Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 424: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the bonuses that were paid to her staff for the year ending 31 December 2005; the amount of money that was paid; the way in which this was calculated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1917/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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My Department makes payments under a number of schemes. Civil service posts at the levels of assistant secretary and deputy secretary are covered by a scheme of performance related awards. The operation of the scheme is overseen by the committee for performance awards. The funding for awards is based on 10% of the payroll for the posts covered by the scheme. Within this overall limit, payments of up to 20% can be made to individuals. Details of the procedures, the numbers covered by the scheme, the range of awards and the total amounts paid in Departments are outlined in the annual reports of the committee and available on the website www.finance.gov.ie. The committee does not identify the amount paid to individuals because that is regarded as personal information.

The purpose of the INPUT scheme is to facilitate and encourage the submission of suggestions by eligible civil servants aimed at improving civil service operations. All grades up to and including principal officer and their equivalents are eligible to submit suggestions. My Department made the following payment under the INPUT staff suggestion scheme.

The Minister for Finance sanctioned expenditure from subhead A1 for ex gratia payments or other awards to individual staff members or groups of staff in recognition of exceptional performance of duty, provided that such expenditure can be met from within the overall allocations and does not exceed 0.2% of the subhead A1 allocation. It enables Departments and offices to grant awards to staff and is considered a valuable contribution as part of the overall reward and motivation system in the Civil Service. Under this scheme, awards in my Department are made under the headings of exceptional performance; departmental activities which promote team building and social cohesion; hardship; and awards recognising long service and retirement. Details of the individual awards made are as follows.