Written answers
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Departmental Expenditure
Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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198. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide the details of average cuts paid by his Department and those under his aegis to recruitment and temporary employment agencies, that is the proportion of the fee paid from State funding to such agencies is receivd by the worker and the proportion by the agency. [42708/14]
Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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199. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an annual breakdown of the fees paid to recruitment and employment agencies by his Department and those under his aegis. [42722/14]
Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 and 199 together.
For the years in question, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has not engaged the services of any recruitment and employment agencies in Ireland. However, we have engaged the services of such agencies abroad and the figures requested by the Deputies in respect of the Department’s two Votes (Vote 27 and Vote 28) are set out as follows:
| Vote 27 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency Fees | €24,571.80 | €24,292.15 | €14,103.96 | €7,145.00 |
All expenditure under Vote 27 related to sourcing staff for vacancies. Upon hiring, the recruited staff are paid directly by those missions and no further payments are made to the agency.
| Vote 28 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency Fees | €48,002.64 | €56,173.34 | €77,983.63 | €55,115.38 |
| Salary Paid to Employees at relevant missions | €268,357.39 | €274,417.19 | €277,500.18 | €229,778.52 |
In the case of Vote 28, expenditure is in respect of 15 missions over the 4 year period. Given the number of jurisdictions in which our missions operate, agencies may be engaged to provide a range of services including assistance with recruitment, HR management, and facilitating our missions meeting their obligations under local labour law, including in respect of taxation, social insurance contributions etc. Agency staff have been hired to assist with the opening of our new Missions this year, with permanent recruitment scheduled to take place once the Mission is established.
In the case of two of our missions (Atlanta and Warsaw), the arrangements between the employee and the agency are covered by confidentiality agreements and the Mission does not have access to these arrangements. In these two cases, the total figure paid to the agency is included in the “Agency Fees” figure above.
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