Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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75. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment the aides-de-camp appointed to the Office of the Tánaiste from 2007 to 2019 and to date in 2020, in tabular form.. [17270/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As a constitutional appointment as Tánaiste I am required to act in place of the Taoiseach during his temporary absence.

Under the Partnership Government, there is a plan in place to facilitate a rotating Taoiseach. The current Taoiseach will become Tánaiste and vice versa. Furthermore, the Taoiseach and I as Tánaiste will both be conducting a number of public roles including State occasions.

Consequently I will retain an aide-de-camp in order to fulfil the greater level of representation at public functions and other duties. The aide-de-camp will be a serving officer of the Permanent Defence Force and will hold the rank of Captain. The appointment will be made from within the existing establishment for Officers of that rank and will incur no extra cost.

The proposed tenure of this position will be for the duration of this Government.

Having consulted with the Department of Defence I understand that aide-de-camp appointments have not been made by previous Tánaistí including during the period in question.