Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

61. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of officials in his Department that are receiving the cost of club membership fees, including sports clubs and professional bodies, as part of their contract of employment; the total cost per year to his Department of paying these fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51366/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In my Department, no official has received the cost of club membership fees as part of their contract of employment.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

62. To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department is paying for any of its employees to receive third-level qualifications; if so, the annual cost for each of the past five years; if the employee will receive a financial bonus as a result of receiving this qualification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51380/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Department of Finance continues to invest in staff development in order to supplement the skills and qualifications of our teams through a combination of internal and external training and development initiatives. Under the revised Statement of Strategy 2011-2014, the Department aims to improve training in order to develop greater technical, management and leadership skills. Using the performance management and development system (PMDS), the Department will review our staff’s performance, and identify any skills requiring enhancement to ensure our training resources are used most effectively. The Department also undertook a comprehensive Training Needs Analysis (TNA) survey in late 2012 which has also assisted in identifying the training and development needs of staff within the Department.

The following is a list of all third level courses, training programmes and courses and accompanying cost for the 2012/2013 academic year provided for employees by the Department of Finance. Please note some of the academic courses are still on-going.

My Department is not in a position to provide details of refund of fees for years previous to 2012/2013 at this time and will revert to the Deputy directly in due course. No employee will receive a financial bonus as a result of receiving those qualifications.