Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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13. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the value of the financing sanctioned by his Department for the staffing of An Garda Síochána's liaison unit for the Charleton Tribunal. [2120/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In March 2017 the Department of Justice and Equality wrote to my Department seeking sanction for two retired members of An Garda Síochána and one civilian to support the work of the Disclosures Tribunal. It was the view of the Department of Justice and Equality that these resources were required to support the timely completion of the work of the Tribunal and also to minimise any potential negative impacts on the delivery of the Garda Modernisation and Renewal Programme.  My Department responded in April seeking assurances that alternative approaches had been considered and that the re-hiring of former senior Garda officers would not negatively affect the workings of the Tribunal. The Department of Justice and Equality subsequently wrote back to my Department later that month providing an assurance that it was satisfied that the proposed approach was the most appropriate one given the pressure on Garda corporate resources and the demanding timelines for the Tribunal. Accordingly, sanction was issued by my officials in early May based on this assessment.

Sanction was issued by my Department on the basis that all expenditure would be strictly met from within the existing resources for An Garda Síochána. Accordingly, approval was not provided for any additional spending beyond the revised estimate allocation for the Garda Síochána vote in 2017. This is the normal practice for sanction requests submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform once the financial allocation for the year has been published in the revised estimates volume.

The latest information provided to my Department from the Department of Justice and Equality indicates that expenditure on the staff re-hired to support the Disclosures Tribunal amounted to €78,840 as at the end of November 2017. I understand that this relates to one retired assistant commissioner and one retired Chief Superintendent. As I understand it, a civilian was not re-hired to support the work of the Tribunal.