Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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65. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the annual saving to her Department if spending on education and training was reduced by 2.5%, 5% and 10%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26926/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The information sought by the Deputy is outlined in the table below.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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66. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the annual saving to her Department if spending on professional fees, including but not limited to legal, IT-related, accountancy and other advisory and consultancy, was reduced by 10%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26954/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Based on the amount of fees paid by the Department of Social Protection in 2014, a saving of €1,507,044 would accrue to the Exchequer, if expenditure on professional fees was reduced by 10%. Please note that such expenditure does not include medical certification and vision testing fees carried out by health professionals, but does include legal, IT-related, accountancy, and other advisory and consultancy fees.

However, an annual saving of this amount may not be realisable due to the difficulty in projecting the annual spend. Therefore the saving may be different.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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67. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the annual saving to the Exchequer if the Minister's special adviser's salary was capped at the first point of the principal officer grade, that is €75,647; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26968/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I have four Special Advisers. One of my Special Advisors is on secondment from the Central Bank and, in accordance with the rules governing secondment retains his terms and conditions, including salary. The annual savings to the Exchequer if the salaries of the other three special advisers were capped at the first point of the Principal Officer grade would be €71,926.

By way of clarification, there are two salary scales for Special Advisers. There is a non-personal pension contribution scale starting at €75,647 for Special Advisers who were appointed prior to 1 January 2013. There is a personal pension contribution scale in respect of Special Advisers appointed after that date, starting at €79,401. In this instance the person makes a pension contribution to the Single Public Service Pension Scheme which was established on 1 January 2013.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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68. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the annual saving to her Department and the bodies under its aegis if all the fees for all State agency, non-commercial State sponsored bodies and commercial semi-State board members were reduced by 25%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26982/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The information sought by the Deputy is outlined in the table below.

Citizens Information Board

The figure given for the projected annual fees for 2015 includes potential fees in respect of current vacancies. One of the existing board members has declined to accept fees and potential amounts are not included for this member. Information in relation to membership of the Citizens Information Board is available on the Department’s website at .

Pensions Ombudsman

The Office of the Pensions Ombudsman does not have a board.