Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 59: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of quangos, agencies and authorities that were established by his Department in each of the years 1997 to January 2011; the number of staff employed by his Department in 1997; the number of staff employed by his Department in January 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22582/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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No State Agencies currently operate under the aegis of my Department. The only semi-state body that operated under my Department during the period in question was the Agency for Personal Service Overseas (APSO), which was established in 1973 and was integrated into my Department on 1 January 2004.

The following bodies which operate, or operated, under the aegis of my Department, were established between 1997 and 2011:

the Irish Aid Expert Advisory Group – established 2010

the Development Education Advisory Committee – established 2003

the Audit Committee of the Department of Foreign Affairs – established 2003

The Hunger Task Force – established 2007 (ceased to exist after reporting in September 2008)

the Advisory Board for Irish Aid (ABIA) – established 2002 (ceased to exist in October 2008)

These bodies employ no staff and their administration is serviced directly from my Department. With the exception of the Hunger Task Force, members of which received a payment, all other members of committees serve in a voluntary capacity.

The number of staff employed in 1997 was 981. In January 2011, the number of staff was 1181.55. These figures exclude the number of locally-engaged staff, which is currently approximately 300.

Increases in my Department's staffing complement over this 14-year period are largely attributable to the:

recruitment of additional staff for the Passport Service to enable it to cope with annual increases in the demand for passports;

expansion of the Irish Aid overseas development programme. The total budget administered by Irish Aid in 1997 was €114 million compared to €524 million in 2011.

I should also inform the Deputy that my Department is obliged to shed a total of 177 posts over the period March 2009 to end December 2014 under the Government's current Employment Control Framework.