John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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74. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the details of secondments from his Department to the university third level sector over the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22248/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Over the past two years, there has only been one secondment arrangement between my Department and a university/third level sector. 

This secondment arrangement was in respect of an Assistant Principal Officer of my Department who was seconded, for two days a week, to University College Cork (UCC).  He was seconded to the position of Senior Policy Adviser to MaREI, SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine Research and Innovation that is co-ordinated by the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) at University College Cork.  

For administrative purposes, given the nature of the secondment (2 day/3 day), the officer remained on my Department's payroll  but salary-related costs associated with the 2 days working in the research center were recouped from UCC.As such, my Department was not liable for salary costs for the 2 days the officer worked in the research center. 

This secondment arrangement between my Department and University College Cork ended on 31 December 2021.