Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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739.To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of political staff employed in her Department, including parliamentary assistants, secretarial assistants, special advisers, drivers and other relevant positions; the number of civil or public service staff seconded to work within his Department or constituency offices; the salaries and job titles of each such person; the duty or role of each, in each of the years 2020 to 2023 and to date in 2024, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[34923/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Since my appointment as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in September 2020 there has been four Special Advisers and five Civilian Drivers employed by the Department set out in tabular form below:

All staff are paid in accordance with the standard arrangements put in place by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform as follows:

All special advisers appointed to me are paid at the relevant Principal Officer (Standard) PPC scale.

The special adviser appointed to Minister of State Thomas Byrne is paid at the relevant Assistant Principal Officer (Standard) PPC scale.

All Civilian Drivers are paid at the relevant Civilian Driver (Standard) PPC scale.

I can inform the Deputy that both myself and Minister of State Thomas Byrne have employed Parliamentary Assistants and Administrative Assistants (formerly Secretarial Assistants) as permitted under the Scheme for Secretarial Assistant. All are paid by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and on the relevant pay scale for the role.

In respect to the number of civil or public service staff seconded to work within my Department or constituency offices, five staff have been seconded in years 2020 to 2023 and to date in 2024, set out in tabular form below:

All staff are paid on the salary scale for their grade and in accordance with the standard arrangements put in place by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. In addition, one staff member receives a private secretary allowance.