Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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214. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of issuing hard copy payslips to all employees paid by her; the number of staff issued with such payslips; the steps being taken to only issue payslips by electronic means; the time frame involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8512/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I can confirm that payslips are issued to an average of 98,000 school employees/pensioners, every fortnight. In 2014, the cost of postage for these payslips was approx. €1.3m. While it had been planned to implement online payslips for school employees/pensioners by end 2014, it has not been possible to progress same, due to other priorities that arose. These priorities included the implementation of section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001, with effect from January 2014; new sick leave arrangements for school employees, with effect from September 2014; measures provided for by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act 2013 and the Haddington Road Agreement; Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) European Union Regulation, in mid-2014 etc.

Due to other priorities that have emerged, it is not possible to set a time-frame for the implementation of online payslips for school employees/pensioners. These priorities include the implementation of payments to further groups of home tutors, through the payroll; changes to the recently implemented sick leave scheme; the implementation of rolled-up holiday pay for casual and non-casual employees etc.

I can confirm that staff in my Department currently have access to on-line payslips and will continue to have access to on-line payslips, following the migration of the staff payroll to the Payroll Shared Services Centre in Tullamore, next month.