Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide in a tabular form a breakdown of the position, salary, allowance and expenses paid in 2011 to each of the employees of the Fiscal Advisory Council. [15490/12]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 74: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide in a tabular form a breakdown of the number of board members and their respective annual remuneration for 2011 of the Fiscal Advisory Council. [15491/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 73 and 74 together.

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Council) was established on a non-statutory basis in July 2011. Under the EU/IMF Programme, legislation to establish the Council on a statutory basis must be published by the end of June 2012.

As a non-statutory body, the Council is not yet in a position to employ staff directly. The current secretariat consists of a Senior Economist seconded from the Central Bank of Ireland and one Executive Officer and one Administrative Officer seconded from the ESRI. The current staff were seconded to the Council between June and September 2011. The total paid in 2011 to the ESRI and the Central Bank for staff seconded to the secretariat was €80,226. This figure includes employer's PRSI and pension contributions in all cases.

The pay scales for executive officer and administrative officer in ESRI are equivalent to the civil service pay scales, which run from €29,000 to

€47,000 for executive officer and from €31,000 to €55,000 for administrative officer. The Senior Economist is paid according the scale applicable to that grade in the Central Bank of Ireland.

None of the secretariat staff is in receipt of allowances. The total of expenses paid to secretariat staff in 2011 was €474.

The Council consists of five members. These are: · Mr. Sebastian Barnes, OECD, · Professor Alan Barrett, TCD (on secondment from the ESRI), · Dr. Donal Donovan, University of Limerick (formerly IMF staff), · Professor John McHale, Head of Economics, NUI Galway and Chair of the Council, - Chairman, and · Dr. Róisín O'Sullivan, Associate Professor, Smith College, Massachusetts.

These are not executive positions. The Council members may receive an annual stipend of €5,000 provided they are not employed by the Irish public service. Half stipends were of €2,500 were paid, where applicable, in 2011.