Austin Deasy
Question:8 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Finance the total cost of overtime in Government Departments; and the cost in the State-sponsored bodies, if any, under his aegis.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Overtime Payments.
Civil Service Departments and offices have set aside some £27 million for overtime in their 1994 Estimates allocations. In the State-sponsored bodies under my aegis a total of some £1.19 million has been set aside for overtime payments in 1994.
A Cheann Comhairle, you indicated by letter last week that my original question has been diluted and I will now have to ask each Minister for the overtime figure for the State bodies under his or her control. I suspect the total figure is enormous. Will the Minister agree that if overtime were eliminated in a number of large commercial State bodies, we could employ tens of thousands of people?
That case has been made and I made it in my previous ministerial post. A reduction in overtime in an establishment should lead to increased employment. I agree with the Deputy's point. I checked the position in a number of Departments. I note the Deputy's question referred to semi-State bodies and I suspect the overtime figure for those bodies would be greater than for the Departments. I checked most of the administrative budget arrangements and the figures are smaller than I would have thought. The overtime figure for the Department of Social Welfare is approximately £2.75 million for 1994 and approximately £4.5 million for the Revenue Commissioners. However, the figure is substantial in other areas. In 1973 the overtime figure for the Department of Justice was more than £14 million. The total outturn for overtime in the Civil Service was under £31 million last year.
I agree the Civil Service would not be the main offender, if that is the correct word. Will the Minister agree that there seems to be a nice cosy arrangement within certain large commercial State bodies between those bodies and the unions involved to ensure that overtime is considerable and that position is to the detriment of many skilled people on the unemployment register?
I do not wish to comment on bodies not under my control. If overtime work could be undertaken by other people, it would reduce the number of sustainable jobs in the system, but it is a difficult matter to pursue. I assume the Deputy is referring to continual overtime and such overtime is taking the place of jobs.
Institutionalised overtime has become part of the system.
Overtime is acceptable in cases where it is a once-off measure during a busy season, but when a permanent number of extra hours are built into the working week it affects employment.
Is the Minister aware of a case referred to in the 1992 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General where an employee of a Department earned £47,700 overtime in one year?
That is a distinct separate matter.
The person must have been working on the Structural Funds sums.
I am not aware of that case and I would not like to comment on it.