Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 429: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost of bonus payments made to staff in her Department for 2008; the amount set aside in her Department for bonus payments in 2009; and if she will make a statement on the circumstances where a staff bonus will be paid in 2009. [4835/09]

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.

No specific provision has been made for this scheme in 2009. 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.

The total gross expenditure on the scheme, which in my Department is called the Fiúntas scheme, was €176,780 in 2008. Total gross expenditure on the scheme in 2009 will depend on the decisions made during the year in relation to nominations for recognition of exceptional performance but in any event, as in previous years, the total expenditure on the scheme in 2009 may not exceed 0.2% of payroll costs.