Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

590. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of full-time and part-time staff working directly in the Climate Change Advisory Council; the yearly running costs including staffing costs; and the Exchequer funding in each year since it was established. [53689/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Climate Change Advisory Council was established by Ministerial Order (S.I. No 25 of 2016) on 18 January 2016 pursuant to section 8 of the Climate Change and Low Carbon Development Act 2015. The Advisory Council consists of eleven members appointed by Government, acting in a part-time capacity, four of whom are ex-officio members. The overall costs associated with the operation of the Advisory Council are provided for through the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is funded, in part, through my Department’s Vote.  

Ordinary members of the Advisory Council receive an annual remuneration of €9,800, with the Chair receiving an annual remuneration of €16,250, in line with the scale of Department of Public Expenditure and Reform approved fees for chairpersons and members of State Boards. Ex Officiomembers of the Advisory Council do not receive remuneration. In line with the ‘One Person One Salary’ remuneration policy for public servants, members of the Advisory Council already in receipt of a public service salary may not receive any further remuneration by virtue of their membership of the Council. However, in certain cases, remuneration is paid directly to the member’s parent institution to offset the costs of that member's commitments to the Advisory Council. Members of the Advisory Council also receive travel and subsistence expenses in line with public service rates.

I am advised by the EPA that the remuneration received in 2016 and in 2017 by members of the Advisory Council is as follows:

The Advisory Council is supported in its work by four full-time EPA employees. The EPA also provides corporate services to the Advisory Council which are reimbursed in accordance with guidelines on reimbursement of operational overhead costs set out in Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circular 13/13, Public Spending Code: Expenditure Planning, Appraisal and Evaluation in the Irish Public Service - Standard Rules and Procedures.

I am further advised by the EPA that the overall operating costs of the Advisory Council during its first two years of operation are as set out in the table below.

*Year to end-November.