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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together.

Following on from the review of the operation of the strategic communications unit, or SCU, my Department will revert to a reformed Government information service, or GIS, model. The GIS will have a smaller budget, fewer staff and a more limited role than the SCU. There will be a managed reversion to the more traditional GIS model with a transition period until July 2018. This transition is now under way and will conclude on schedule. The reassignment of staff is being dealt with as a confidential HR matter by the management of the Department in consultation with each individual staff member. As outlined in the review, surplus staff will be given the opportunity to be reassigned to another post either within my Department or in another Department or agency. In some cases, the duties of staff will not change as they either predate the establishment of the SCU or such work will continue in a reformed GIS.

Civil servants in the Government information service and the Government press office will come under the management of the assistant secretary general with responsibility for corporate affairs while respecting the role of the Government press secretary and the deputy and assistant Government press secretaries in the day-to-day management of press and communications. The 2018 funding allocation for the unit has been reduced by €2.5 million. This will result in my Department's 2018 Estimate being 9% less than its 2017 Estimate.

While the Government information service will lead and conduct the citizen research as planned, this will only commence once the Opposition parties have been afforded an opportunity to review the proposed survey. This review will be done in the coming weeks. Once the survey has been run, the results will be published expeditiously.

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