Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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164. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of voluntary salary and pension surrenders that occurred in each of the years 2019 to 2021; the value of such; the average duration of such; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26255/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that Section 483 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, provides for a gift on an annual basis to be made to the Minister for Finance to be applied for any purpose or towards the cost of which public moneys are provided. 

Gifting of salary is a personal matter for individual taxpayers. If an official wishes to gift part of his or her salary, the relevant Department is required to put in place administrative arrangements to facilitate this. 

The tax affairs of individual taxpayers cannot be disclosed due to the obligation to protect taxpayer confidentiality as provided for by section 851A of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997. Furthermore, I understand that there are considerations under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in relation to the disclosure of personal data.

However, aggregate information in relation to money received from Government Departments is reported in the Finance Accounts - Audited Financial Statements of the Exchequer, Statement 1.2 Non-Tax Revenue – Current and Capital, which are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and published each year.