Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1: To ask the Taoiseach if his Department pays allowances to former taoisigh to maintain personal assistants; the former taoisigh to whom such allowances are or have been paid; the amount per annum of each allowance; the cost of the allowance in 2010; the cost since their introduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 2: To ask the Taoiseach the facilities and allowances provided by his Department to former taoisigh; the cost of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 3: To ask the Taoiseach the facilities provided by his Department to former taoisigh; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to answer Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together.

Under the terms of an initiative introduced by the Department of Finance in August 2001, my Department pays the salary of secretarial assistants employed by former taoisigh up to the maximum of the higher executive officer standard scale. The initiative provides that a former Taoiseach may employ two secretarial assistants for a period not exceeding five years from the date when he or she was last Taoiseach. After the five year period has elapsed, only one secretarial assistant may be employed. The initiative also includes provision for purchase of computer equipment necessary for this type of service.

While there are no guidelines in regard to the type of work for which secretarial assistants are employed by former taoisigh, I understand that they carry out a normal range of secretarial duties to support the former taoisigh in carrying out those aspects of work associated with their former roles which remain after their period in office has ceased. However, under the initiative, the secretarial assistant cannot engage in constituency or active party political work.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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In the Taoiseach's response he indicated that former taoisigh are entitled to the service of two secretarial assistants for five years following the completion of their terms of office as Taoiseach and also to have one secretarial assistant thereafter for whatever length of time for their lifetime. Is it the case that if they also continue to be serving Members of the Dáil - each of us as Members of the Dáil is entitled to the services of a parliamentary assistant and a secretarial assistant - that they are also entitled to the further services of two additional secretarial assistants, as the Taoiseach's reply suggests? Will the Taoiseach clarify the situation?

Will the Taoiseach accept that the recent reply to the parliamentary question I submitted to him has caused considerable interest? My read of the situation is that people are aghast that former taoisigh, irrespective of whether they are actually serving Members of a current or future Dáil or have retired from the post, would be entitled to two secretarial assistants for a full five years and one thereafter indefinitely. Does the Taoiseach not think that this scheme, which was introduced by the former Taoiseach in 2001, is wasteful and beyond the acceptance of people? It did not have merit in 2001 but in the current economic times when serious downturns are affecting everyone's circumstances, what justification does the Taoiseach believe there is for the scheme continuing, given that what is involved is not small change?

Is the Taoiseach aware that last year alone the former Taoiseach, who happens to be a current Member of this Dáil, secured------

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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Is there a question, Deputy?

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, I am asking the Taoiseach if he is aware that a sum of €114,000 was allocated for the provision of the additional secretarial assistants because the former Taoiseach was in that post. Is he aware that a sum in excess of €300,000 has been claimed by the former Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, since the introduction of the scheme? Is he aware that over the past decade the former Taoiseach John Bruton has availed of the scheme while also involved during the greater part of that time in senior European Union representative roles?

I put it to the Taoiseach that this is a wasteful scheme which has little or no justification. The extent of the generosity requires immediate review, if not the entirety of what was introduced in 2001. Will the Taoiseach accept that this is on top of the pension entitlements of former taoisigh? I understand that it also-----

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy has spent a long time imparting information. We need a question.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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-----includes the provision of a car and Garda driver. Whether that applies or is utilised in all cases I cannot say. Will the Taoiseach indicate how he feels about this scheme at this point in time, against the fact that there have been very considerable cutbacks in terms of the salaries and expenses of all sitting Members of the current Dáil and that this scheme has held in place and is now entering its tenth year?

What, if anything, does the Taoiseach intend to do about it?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I note that Deputy Ó Caoláin's questions concerned the allowances paid to former taoisigh. This gives the impression, repeated in his supplementary question, that the money is allocated to individual officeholders and subsequently dispensed. These sums are the wages paid directly to the secretarial assistants employed by former taoisigh. The money is not given to former taoisigh; it pays the salaries of people who work for them, as outlined in the scheme.

The Deputy may take the view that former taoisigh should not be accorded any assistance or support. Former taoisigh remain public persons and continue to play roles under the Constitution and as former incumbents of the highest political office in the land. I do not make any distinction and hold all former taoisigh in the same esteem, as we all should. I regard this as an issue to be dealt with in the context of the work they do and the employment of secretarial assistants to support them in doing that work. It is not correct to suggest that the money is an allowance or payment in order to feed into a cynical view that it is intended as an aggrandisement. I do not agree with that suggestion and would like to accord some dignity to the matter.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I do not know where the Taoiseach encountered that view. I have at all times spoken about the provision of two secretarial assistants, which is the entitlement from the 2001 scheme. If anybody is putting a spin on this issue, it is the Taoiseach. I am trying to deal with the facts of this scheme, which was introduced by a former Taoiseach and, as it happens, applies to all former taoisigh, at least four of whom are availing of it and, therefore, one exception is not.

I ask the Taoiseach once again about this important matter. He himself will be a former Taoiseach some day. Does he not think now is an appropriate time to pose responsible questions as to the suitability of two additional secretarial assistants, particularly if one is a serving Member? It is quite incredible and seems over the top in terms of the supports required. The issue merits at least a review of the curtailments that could be introduced, although a question mark remains in my mind over the entire project. Does the Taoiseach even accept that in the context of a significant economic downturn, it is not justifiable to maintain the level of support of indefinite secretarial assistance for the lifetime of a former Taoiseach?

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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Speeches cannot be accommodated on Question Time.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I am not making a speech. I am putting a question and the Ceann Comhairle's comfort with it is neither here nor there.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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Speeches may be made at other times.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I posed a parliamentary question and received a response which revealed details of the issue. I am now asking the Taoiseach how he views the issue and whether he believes it merits an immediate review given our current circumstances, the serious cutbacks that have already been imposed on so many sectors of Irish society and the further cutbacks pending in budget 2011. I urge him to revisit this scheme and to take a responsible approach to it if it is to continue.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I emphasised in my earlier reply that these are not the allowances the Deputy suggested in his question for obvious reasons. They are payments to secretaries who work.

All areas of expenditure are, of course, kept under review. However, previous incumbents of the office who have utilised the scheme have not done so on the basis of a full-time secretarial assistant every year. The Deputy did not make that point in his contentions. A former incumbent incurred a cost of €1,766 so far this year and €11,000 in a previous year. Another former incumbent incurred a cost of €12,365 this year, €19,000 three years ago and €14,000 in the previous year. In other instances, a full-time, full-year secretarial assistant was clearly utilised. That could be said in respect of all the incumbents and a reduction in the costs are also clear as time goes on.

Former taoisigh can be assisted in a cost-effective way. They have a role to play in society and we should provide support where it is required and accord dignity to the office. It is not a question of providing benefits to former incumbents; it is about the office and what it represents.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Does the Department of the Taoiseach provide former taoisigh with facilities other than the allowances which the Taoiseach has clarified are for secretarial assistants? In the circumstances which used to apply in Northern Ireland, former taoisigh were provided with Garda security on a full-time basis. I do not know if that continues to apply and perhaps the Taoiseach will clarify the matter. If his Department provides other facilities, how does this operate? If former incumbent X says his computer is broken, is there a service agreement to provide facilities? The Taoiseach's immediate predecessor is entitled, as a Deputy, to a personal assistant and a parliamentary assistant and I am sure the facilities to which the Taoiseach referred are for additional secretarial assistance.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The secretarial assistants are included on my Department's payroll as an administrative convenience but it is not their employer. The scheme is as I have outlined it and all these matters will be kept under review. The provision of cars to former taoisigh is a security matter as far as I am concerned and, as Deputy Kenny noted, gardaí or security drivers look after that, which is as it should be.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I did not table a question on this subject but I ask whether the terms of the public service recruitment embargo apply to these posts. If there will be another former Taoiseach in the near future, will he be prevented from recruiting under the embargo?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The contracts of employment are drawn up with the individuals concerned and are not part of the public service complement. As I explained in a previous response, they are on the payroll of my Department for administrative convenience but they are not departmental employees. The Deputy should be under no illusion, however, because I do not expect any changes in the foreseeable future.