Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 56: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he has taken to address academic salaries and pay rises that were not agreed by him or the Higher Education Authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34767/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware that agreement was reached in April 2009 which provided that unapproved payments would cease in the case of senior staff in universities. This regularised the remuneration of the individuals concerned apart from a limited number of outstanding issues in some universities. My Department requested the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to conduct an exercise to determine definitively the amount of unauthorised remuneration paid to individual senior staff in each of the universities and to have the amounts identified in each case verified by the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG). I will arrange to have the Public Accounts Committee informed of the outcome of this exercise as soon as it becomes available.

Under the current legislation my Department is limited in its options in respect of the imposition of penalties to deal with breaches. In view of possible contractual entitlements there are significant legal obstacles to recovering unauthorised payments from individuals.