Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 839: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide a list of all current time-related savings/delayed spending of Budget 2012 allocations on staff and or resources in his Department. [36723/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In the context of delivering both on Public Sector Reform and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport's Public Service Agreement (Croke Park) 2010-2014 Action Plan for change the results achieved to date include: Savings achieved through the reductions in the pay bill associated with reduced staff numbers, reduced from 518 in May 2011 to 466 by end June 2012. This decrease was achieved primarily by retirements and the remainder by staff departures on redeployment or moves to other sectors

· The Department recruited Radio Officers (Grade 3) to fill safety critical vacancies in the Irish Coast Guard's marine rescue service, at the new reduced pay rates (10% less) applicable with effect from 1st January 2011 to all new entrants recruited into the public service.

· Other pay related savings include significant improvements in staff attendance with a 21% reduction on sick leave absences achieved in 2011 compared to 2010.

Also as part of public sector reform Performance Budgeting was introduced for my Department, the five programme budgets in my Department are: -

· Civil Aviation

· Land Transport

· Maritime Transport and Safety

· Sports and Recreation Services

· Tourism Services

The overall budget provision for my Department in 2012 is 13% less than the expenditure in 2011 and is monitored closely.