Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

101. To ask the Taoiseach the amount of the €5 million budgeted for the Strategic Communications Unit in Budget 2018 which will remain; the areas in which these remaining funds will be used; and the purpose to which he funding will be used [15239/18]

Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

102. To ask the Taoiseach if there will be consequent redundancies arising from the discontinuance of the Strategic Communications Unit ; if so, the number, position and grades of each; the redundancy payments that will arise; if no staff are exiting, the locations to which they will be redeployed; and the role or purpose of each; the number of positions and grades. [15240/18]

Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

103. To ask the Taoiseach the number, positions and grade of each position created for the purposes of establishing the Strategic Communications Unit. [15241/18]

Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

104. To ask the Taoiseach the costs and expenditure from the €5 million provided in Budget 2018 for the Strategic Communications Unit that have been expended up to and including 27 March 2018; the estimated further expenditure of the €5 million in the period between 27 March 2018 and the winding down of the unit in July 2018; and the amounts and purpose for which the moneys are expected to be used in tabular form. [15242/18]

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

107. To ask the Taoiseach the location in which all of the 15 staff that were assigned to the Strategic Communications Unit as outlined in the report on the unit are now working in his Department; and the reporting relationships of same. [16900/18]

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

108. To ask the Taoiseach if staff that were assigned to the Strategic Communications Unit have been redeployed to their original positions within his Department or in other seconded areas. [16901/18]

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

117. To ask the Taoiseach if the staff employed under the Strategic Communications Unit will be paid redundancy. [15330/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 101 to104, inclusive, and 107, 108 and 117 together.

On 27 March 2018, the Government noted the comprehensive Review of the Operation of the Strategic Communications Unit (SCU) completed by the Secretary General to the Government, and accepted its recommendations. Having taken a wide range of issues into consideration, as set out in the Review report, the Secretary General recommended:

- that the SCU should be wound down;

- that the Department should revert to a reformed Government Information Service (GIS) model, with a smaller budget, less staff and a more limited role than the SCU; and that measures should be put in place across Government Departments which preserve the valuable and necessary reforms to ensure value for money, professionalisation and modernisation in government communications activity.

There will be a transition period until July 2018 for the implementation of all of the recommended next steps as set out in the Review.

At time of publication of the Review, there were fifteen staff assigned to the SCU comprising one Director (Assistant Secretary level); one Principal Officer; four Assistant Principal Officers; one Higher Executive Officer equivalent (Acting); one Higher Executive Officer; three Administrative Officers; three Communications & Media Assistants (Executive Officer equivalent); and one Executive Officer.

The reassignment of staff is being dealt with as a confidential HR matter by the management of my Department in consultation with each individual staff member.

As outlined in the Review, surplus staff will be given the opportunity to be reassigned to another post either within my Department or in other Departments or agencies. In some cases, the duties of staff will not change as they either predated the establishment of the SCU or their work will continue in a reformed GIS. There will be no redundancies arising from the implementation of the recommendations of the Review.

Following the publication of the Review, I informed the House (and the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and the Taoiseach) that the 2018 funding allocation for the Unit would be reduced by €2.5 million. Indeed, my Department has subsequently been liaising with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to give effect to this €2.5 million reduction in my Department's 2018 Revised Estimate. This will result in my Department's 2018 Estimate being 9% less that its 2017 Estimate.

Details of expenditure by the SCU up to the end of March 2018 are contained in Table 1.

Table 1

The figures included in Table 1 represent actual expenditure incurred and processed through my Department’s financial management system to end March 2018. Additional invoices for various projects are currently being processed or are yet to be received.

Table 2 shows details of committed expenditure by the SCU of €2.2 million (inclusive of the €388,966.47 detailed in Table 1). This leaves a balance of approximately €265,000 for running costs of the Unit up to July 2018, when the Unit will be wound down.

Table 2