David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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582. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated full-year savings for 2017 by reducing advisers' pay to first point principal officer grade. [13654/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy's question is a hypothetical one.

I would like to advise the Deputy for information that on the commencement of each Dáil, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform issues guidelines setting out the arrangements for the staffing of Ministerial Offices including:

1. the permitted staffing levels in the private and constituency offices of Ministers and Ministers of State, and

2. the level of salaries for Ministerial personal appointees to the positions of Special Adviser, Personal Secretary, Personal Assistant and Civilian Driver and the number of appointees permitted.

These guidelines are brought to the Government and it is anticipated that the Government will consider the guidelines shortly.

It should be noted in this context that some of the Special Advisers appointed by Ministers in the last Government will be reappointed as Special Advisers by Ministers in the current Government . Factors such as progression on the incremental scale cannot be fully assessed until all such appointments have been finalised.