Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 448: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the bonuses awarded by her Department to staff members for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007; the number and proportion of staff in receipt of bonuses for each of those years; the average bonus paid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32005/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Civil service posts at the levels of Assistant Secretary and Deputy Secretary are covered by a scheme of performance related awards. Recommendations in relation to awards are made by the Secretary General of each department and 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 (available on the website www.finance.gov.ie). The Committee does not identify the amount paid to individuals as this is regarded as personal information.

In addition, there is a scheme for Recognition of Exceptional Performance by Staff which operates across the Civil Service. This scheme has been in operation since 1996 and allows Secretaries-General to make awards for sustained exceptional performance to staff. Awards may be made in respect of performance above the level which would reasonably be expected in the normal course from the grade of staff involved. All staff in the Department, irrespective of grade, can nominate another staff member or a team for an award, at any time during the year. Total expenditure on the Scheme may not exceed 0.2% of payroll. Details of the awards made under this scheme, which in my Department is called the Fiuntas scheme, are shown in the following tabular statement.