Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 154: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the savings that will accrue to her Department arising from the public service pay cuts applied by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009; the number of personnel whose pay has been cut; the average reduction in each case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4824/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act, 2009, made provision for the reduction of the remuneration of certain persons in the public service. The pay reductions provided for in the Act have been applied across my Department and its agencies with effect from 1 January 2010.

The 2010 Estimate for my Department which was published on 9 December 2009 included an indicative provisional reduction of €39.658 million to be applied to my Department's allocation in respect of adjustments to be made to public service pay across my Department and its agencies.

My Department is currently finalising the precise extent of the savings in consultation with the Department of Finance and the necessary adjustments will be reflected in the Revised Estimates Volume which is due to be published later this month.

The reductions will apply to over 5,200 whole time equivalent staff members who were serving in my Department and its agencies at the beginning of the year. The level of reduction varies depending on the salary scale of each employee. The detailed rates of reduction are set out in the Department of Finance's Circular 28/2009, which is published on that Department's website, www.finance.gov.ie, under the section on Civil/Public Service Information.

A pay reduction of 15% has been applied to my own remuneration as Tanaiste, while a 10% reduction has been applied to the remuneration of the Ministers of State at my Department.