Ruairí Quinn
Question:32 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the full year cost for 1998 of the media monitoring unit within the Government Information Services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1807/99]
Written Answers. - Government Information Services.
John Bruton
Question:33 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach the staffing levels of the media monitoring unit within the Government Information Services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2567/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 33 together.
The current staff in the media monitoring unit within the Government Information Services comprise a manager of the unit, two executive officers, one staff officer and three clerical officers. All of the staff with the exception of the manager and one clerical officer are on secondment from other Departments to work in the unit.
The full year cost of the unit to my Department in 1998 was approximately £72,000. This covers the manager's salary, shift allowances paid to the other staff and other general administration costs. The salaries of the staff on secondment are paid by their parent Departments and my Department pays the shift allowance, amounting to one sixth of each officer's salary. There are also some overhead costs which are incurred by my Department such as office maintenance, heating and electricity costs. However, these costs cannot be identified separately.
Staff in the unit operate a flexible rota of three different work shifts so that 18 hours per day they are able to provide a comprehensive information service to Ministers and their Departments on Government policy initiatives and developments and alert them to problems which may arise in relation to their implementation.