Civil service posts at the levels of Assistant Secretary and Deputy Secretary are covered by a scheme of performance related awards. The operation of the scheme is overseen by the Committee for Performance Awards. The funding for awards is based on 10% of the payroll for the posts covered by the scheme. Within this overall limit, payments of up to 20% can be made to individuals. Details of the procedures, the numbers covered by the scheme, the range of awards and the total amounts paid in Departments are outlined in the annual reports of the Committee (available on the website www.finance.gov.ie). The amount paid out under this scheme is detailed below:
Year
|
No. of staff who received bonuses
|
Average amount paid
|
|
|
€
|
2005
|
4
|
11,000
|
2006
|
4
|
11,700
|
2007
|
4
|
12,800
|
In addition, under the Employee Recognition Awards Scheme, which is used to acknowledge and reward exceptional performance on the part of individuals and teams, merit payments were made as follows:
Year
|
Total value of awards
|
No. of individuals
|
Average award
|
|
€
|
|
|
2005
|
7,600
|
54
|
140
|
2006
|
8,500
|
29
|
290
|
2007
|
10,500
|
52
|
200
|
The highest individual award under this scheme to date is 500.00.