Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that the salary associated with each grade of Secretary General is a matter of public record and is published. Information is published in the relevant appropriation accounts. As the Deputy is aware, those accounts are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and come before the Committee of Public Accounts for further scrutiny when the reports become available.

The specific issue, which I am aware has been raised by members of the Committee of Public Accounts, and which the Deputy is touching on this evening, relates to net salary. They want to tease out whether somebody is gifting a proportion of the salary, when they started gifting, when they finished gifting, and so on. We are governed by rulings made by the Information Commissioner.

The Information Commissioner has deemed the issue of the gifting of salary to be personal information and, therefore, not subject to disclosure. The salary the State is liable to pay every Secretary General across government is published and is a matter of public record.

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