Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) is funded as part of the Vote for the Office of the Ombudsman. The Office of the Ombudsman vote comprises of six separate statutory bodies which are supported in their work by a Corporate Spine consisting of ICT staff, legal and HR support as well as facilities, communications, governance, procurement and finance staff. As with the majority of votes, accounting for expenditure is done on an ‘output programme’ basis.

The Office of the Ombudsman Vote received an increase of 7% under Budget 2024 in recognition of the increased demand for the important work carried out by the bodies under the Vote. The table below outlines the overall allocation to Vote 19- Office of the Ombudsman for each of the years in question.

The Office of the Ombudsman has informed me that the activities of SIPO represent one of the programmes making up the overall vote (i.e. Programme B). (The others are: Programme A: Ombudsman, Office of Protected Disclosures Commissioner and Commission for Public Service Appointments; and, Programme C: Office of the Information Commissioner and Commissioner for Environmental Information).

The breakdown of the overall funding made available to Vote 19 by each Programme for relevant year is set out below.

It should be noted that the figures provided for Programme B (SIPO) do not include any element of the cost associated with the staffing of the Corporate Spine of the organisation. The associated staff costs are borne in full by the Ombudsman Programme A (which also includes the Ombudsman’s salary and travel costs, the salaries of the Director General and Private Secretary). It should be noted that a significant element of the in-house Legal Services Unit’s work concerns SIPO related business and, as outlined above, such related staffing costs are not reflected in the Programme B (SIPO) figures.

Direct expenses of SIPO activity are charged directly to Programme B (SIPO). This includes payroll costs of staff assigned full-time to SIPO activities. Other direct costs include external legal representation costs for cases pursued by SIPO; consultancy costs; travel costs for SIPO staff and members; report design and printing. Apportionment of costs between programmes A, B and C is undertaken for shared expenses (non-pay related) e.g. incidental expenses, cleaning, utilities, office machinery and is therefore reflected in Programme B.

It should be further noted that a capacity review of the SIPO staffing resources was conducted during the course of 2022. Arising from this review, the Office re-profiled an element of the pay budget in Budget 2024, from Programme B to Programme A, to balance staffing costs within the various programmes of the Ombudsman vote.