Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 369: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the cost of bonus payments made to staff in his Department for 2008; the amount set aside in his Department for bonus payments in 2009; if he will make a statement on the circumstances where a staff bonus will be paid in 2009. [4834/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I assume that the Deputy is referring to performance-related awards schemes for civil servants, which fall into two categories.

The first is a high level awards scheme in respect of senior civil servants at Assistant Secretary, Deputy Secretary and equivalent grades. The funding of awards under this scheme was based on 10% of the payroll of the posts covered by the scheme and, within this overall limit, payments of up to 20% could be made to individuals. However, no payments were made under this scheme in respect of 2008 and, on 5 February last, the Minister for Finance announced that the Government has decided to abolish these bonuses subject to discussions on the implementation of the decision with the relevant staff association.

A separate awards scheme has been in place for grades below the level of Assistant Secretary. The total amount available under this scheme is limited to 0.2% of the Department's payroll from sanctioned subheads. However, this scheme was effectively suspended in my Department in 2008, in respect of which awards totalling €8,300 were made out of a potential total of €168,000. No amounts have been set aside in my Department for the payment of awards under either scheme in 2009.