Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 380: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the number of staff, by grade, employed within the private office and the constituency office; the number of such staff who are permanent civil servants and the number who are political appointees; the annual cost of each such office in terms of salary, overtime and expenses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35303/05]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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There are seven staff employed in my private office, including one special advisor at principal officer level, one private secretary at higher executive officer level, one personal assistant at higher executive officer level, two executive officers and two clerical officers.

There are currently six staff employed in my constituency office, including two executive officers, one personal secretary at Oireachtas secretarial assistant level and three clerical officers.

All of the above are permanent civil servants except my personal assistant and personal secretary. My special adviser is a permanent civil servant on secondment to this position.

All these staff are paid at the appropriate Civil Service rates. In addition, my special advisor and personal secretary are each paid a 10% attraction allowance in respect of their current positions. My private secretary is paid an allowance at the rate of €18,015 per annum for these duties.

Expenses and overtime paid for the year ended 31 December 2004 are as follows:

The staffing of both my private and constituency offices is in line with Department of Finance guidelines on this matter.