Written Answers. - Departmental Appointments.
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:
226
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for the Environment
the number and names of persons other than those in the permanent Civil Service, who have been appointed to positions in his Department or other agencies within the ambit of his Department, including Offices of Ministers of State, since the formation of the Government; if he will give details in each case of their job description and conditions of employment, terms of employment, their rank and salary or allowances; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
In my Office, there is a special adviser, a personal assistant and a personal secretary, James Casey, Donal Shanahan and Lisa Hyland respectively. The current salary of the special adviser is £18,730 per annum, the personal assistant is paid at a rate equivalent to the tenth point of the clerical officer scale, and the personal secretary has the same salary scale as a secretarial assistant in the Houses of the Oireachtas with the additional standard allowance of £15.38 per week.
The former special adviser, personal assistant and personal secretary to the Minister of State, Deputy John Browne have been re-appointed, Michael Murphy, Miriam Kelly and Maria Doyle respectively. The special adviser's salary is £28,000 per annum, the personal assistant has the same salary scale as the secretarial assistant, in the Houses of the Oireachtas with an additional allowance of 10 per cent and the personal secretary is paid at the maximum of the salary scale appropriate to her Civil Service grade of serological assistant.
A former secretarial assistant in the Houses of the Oireachtas, David Moynan, has been appointed as personal assistant to the Minister of State, Deputy Emmet Stagg, on terms which have yet to be decided. A personal secretary, Gillian Stagg, has also been appointed at a rate of £151 per week.
The primary role of the personal staff is to provide advice and service to myself and the Ministers of State in relation to our functions and responsibilities as Deputies and office holders.
The Minister of State, Deputy Browne's civilian drivers, John Murphy and Eugene Doyle, have been reappointed and two civilian drivers, Frank Conlon and Sean Vahey, have been appointed for the Minister of State, Deputy Stagg. Each driver is paid at the standard rate appropriate to the position.
All appointments are on the basis of a contract which provides,inter alia, that the appointments terminate when the office holders cease to hold office.
