Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We published the detail of the cost of the unit in the budget because I wanted to be as transparent about this as much as I could be. We put the cost out there. There will be six staff. The total cost, most of it being for information campaigns, will be €5 million in a full year. It will be cost neutral because it is being fully funded from my Department's existing administrative and information budget. In fact, as the Deputy will know from page 164 of the budget book, my Department is one of the few which is having its budget cut next year. The Department's budget is being reduced from €36.7 million to €35.8 million. Therefore, we are able to do this within the existing budget of the Department - actually reducing the budget of the Department. It is, therefore, as I said, cost neutral. Over time, it will actually save money as we will be able to reduce the number of information campaigns and the level of communications activity of other Departments and of the high number of State agencies, which have their own independent communications functions which they may not need at all.

Some of the information campaigns the unit will run will relate to the budget. The Deputy may not believe it, but there are many people who do not know what they are entitled to and what changes are being made in the budget. An obvious example is the increase in family income supplement, of which I have seen very little mention. Low-income working families who are entitled to the family income supplement will see an increase next year of about €10 per week. People need to know that and to apply for it. That is the kind of thing that will be done. In a couple of weeks time, we will see the restoration of treatment benefit. People who pay PRSI will be able to avail of that benefit when attending the dentist, for example. These are the kinds of campaigns which will be run.

On the Deputy's specific question, Mr. Concannon was not appointed by me. I approached him and asked him if he would be available. He was appointed by the Secretary General of the Department. He is not a special adviser and it is not a political appointment. I cannot hire or fire him. If Deputy Martin becomes Taoiseach in a few weeks or months, he will still be there. So it is not a political appointment and he is not a special adviser, which is why the special adviser procedure was not followed. The same applies to the deputy head of the unit, Ms Andrea Pappin, who is an existing staff member in the Department and who handled other communications previously. She worked on the Action Plan for Jobs and the EU Presidency prior to this. She was transferred by the Secretary General because she is a civil servant and not a political appointee.

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