Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 1214: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs in respect of the current year in terms of full-time equivalents the number of persons employed in his, or if applicable his predecessors', constituency office; the annual amount paid in respect of salaries and expenses to each individual; the location or locations of such constituency office; if those offices are on departmental property, to state the office space dedicated to such an office and the estimated value of same; the estimated cost of the provision of utilities, services and other miscellaneous costs to the office; if he will provide the same information for 2008, 2009 and from 14 June to the end of 2007; if he will provide the same information for Ministers of State attached to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32276/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The requested details for my Department during the periods in question are set out below.

Personal Pension Contribution (PPC) scales apply where officers were employed since 6 April 1995, pay class A rate of PRSI and make a personal pension contribution.

Overtime, travel and subsistence expenses are paid in accordance with normal civil service regulations.

Successive Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Ministers of State with responsibility for European Affairs have occupied the same accommodation in Iveagh House, St. Stephen's Green in the period in question. Constituency staff for each Minister and Minister of State are accommodated in an open plan office with the Personal Assistant, where relevant, located in a small single office. Ministers of State with responsibility for Overseas Development are provided with similar constituency office accommodation. In the case of Minister of State Michael Kitt T.D this was located in Bishops Square, Dublin 2 and for Minister of State Peter Power T.D. the accommodation is in Riverstone House, Limerick.

The value of all such property, whether rented or owned by the State, is a matter for the Office of Public Works.

It is not possible to isolate the cost of utilities and accommodation-related services for these offices, i.e. cleaning and waste disposal, from the overall bills in respect of the buildings in question.

IT, communication and other costs

Each member of staff based in the Ministerial offices in the Department's premises is provided with IT and communication facilities from the Department's stocks i.e. PC, phone, print and faxing facilities and appropriate licences. The estimated annual average cost of these is €750 per officer.

Where officers are based in external constituency offices there is an initial set-up cost in providing the equipment and services at an average cost of €2,500.

Based on these estimated average costs, and including any expenditure on telephone charges and other non standard equipment, the following table sets out the IT and communication expenditure relating to Ministerial constituency offices for the periods in question. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of the cost of telephone calls made by constituency office staff.

Annual costs for headed paper from 2007 through to 2009 were €1,537 for the constituency offices of the Ministers and €345 for those of the Ministers of State.