Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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333. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the saving to the Exchequer if all her special advisers and those of her Ministers of State were capped at the first point on the Principal Officer pay scale. [36521/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the savings to the Exchequer if all my special advisors salaries were capped at the first point on the Principal Office scales is set out in the tabular statement below:

There is no Minister of State attached to my Department.

As my special advisor was previously employed in the private sector on a salary package that was more than twice the highest point of the Principal Officer (standard) scale, I sought sanction from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for remuneration in excess of the applicable pay scale grade. A single point salary of €127,796 was sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform effective from 29 July 2011 which represented a reduction of over one third in my Special Adviser’s previous salary in the private sector at that time. The salary has been reduced in line with the Haddington Road Agreement as shown in the table above.