Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 217: To ask the Minister for Finance the budgeted cost to his Department for 2009 of incremental pay increases for all staff in and under the aegis of his Department; the comparative cost for each year from 2002 to date in 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46987/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As indicated in PQ reply of 23 October 2008 (No.84) to Deputy Leo Varadker, the estimated cost of increments awarded to staff in my Department in 2008 was €227,000, and is expected to be of the order of €171,000 in 2009. These amounts do not include the cost of long service increments which are only payable after satisfactory service of 3 and 6 years at the highest points on incremental scales.

It should be noted that since the introduction of the revised Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) in the civil service, the payment of all increments since 2007 is dependant on staff receiving a satisfactory rating.

No dedicated annual provision is made for the payment of increments in my Department. Expenditure may vary from year to year depending on the number of staff who are on points below the maximum of their scale and the number of staff who have reached the maximum of the scale. Retirements and replacement of promoted staff by persons at lower scale points of their former grade also impact on costs from year to year.

It is not possible in the time available to give a complete statement of the actual cost of increments in any given year. In the normal course, the annual cost in my Department and in bodies under the aegis of my Department would not exceed 1% of payroll.