Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of staff broken down by grade employed within the private and constituency office; the number of staff who are permanent civil servants; 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. [38330/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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There are ten staff employed in my private office. These include eight administrative staff, a press adviser and a special adviser. The eight administrative staff are all established civil servants, one higher executive officer, 1.5 executive officers and 5.5 clerical officers.

The higher executive officer is on a pay scale of €40,543 to €51,463 with a private secretary allowance of €15,620 per annum. The executive officers are on a pay scale of €26,618 to €42,238, adjusted proportionally in the case of the work sharing officer.

Some 3.5 of the clerical officers are on a pay scale of €20,181 to €32,728 — class B rate of PRSI contribution applies — adjusted proportionally in the case of the work sharing officer. The other two clerical officers are on a pay scale of €21,245 to €34,448 — class A rate of PRSI contribution applies — as they commenced employment after 6 April 1995. The total overtime costs and expenses incurred to date in 2005 for the administrative staff in this office is €12,728 and €6,798, respectively. The press adviser and special adviser were appointed by me on a contract basis for my term of office. The press adviser is on a principal officer higher level pay scale of €80,750 to €93,599 together with a private pension contribution of 10% of salary. The special adviser is on a principal officer pay scale of €75,036 to €87,247. The total expenses incurred to date by my press adviser and special adviser are €13,000 and €8,152, respectively. No overtime costs have been incurred by these officers.

There are a total of six full-time administrative staff assigned to deal with matters in my constituency office. There are four established civil servants, one executive officer on a pay scale of €26,618 to €42,238 and three clerical officers on a pay scale of €21,245 to €34,448.

I have also appointed, on a contract basis for my term of office, two non-established civil servants, a personal secretary and a personal assistant. The annual salary for my personal secretary is €38,948. My personal assistant is on secondment from the Department of Education and Science. That Department will recoup from my Department on an annual basis the cost of a replacement teacher's salary, allowances, PRSI contributions and superannuation contributions. This will be in the region of €34,400. No overtime or expenses have been incurred to date in 2005 by the administrative staff in my constituency office.

The payscales quoted above are exclusive of the 1.5% increase due under the Sustaining Progress agreement with effect from 1 December 2005.