Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 November 2011
491 Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the names of agencies which provide staff for his Department and for bodies and agencies under its aegis; the services they provide; the numbers of staff they provide; the cost of those services; the way this compares with direct employment of staff in equivalent roles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36230/11]
View answerI wish to inform the Deputy that the details requested in respect of my Department and agencies/bodies within its aegis are as follows:
ICT
My Department has recently put in place a framework of 17 companies to supply a range of specified ICT skills. No contracts have yet been placed.
Auditing
A range of auditing services are provided to my Department by Capita (formerly Tribal Consulting Ltd). The services in question cover both technical/specialist audits and more general audit services and these are drawn down as and when required. The services are drawn down where appropriate skills sets are not available in the Department. The cost of this service in 2011 was €75,755. This is in line with internal staff costs when pension and PRSI costs are included.
Reception and Telephonist Staff
A total of five staff have been employed at three of my Department's main buildings in Dublin at a cost of €258,554. Three staff have been employed by the Probation Service at a cost of €143,704. Two part-time staff have been employed at my Department's Financial Shared Services office in Killarney at a cost of €52,256. Two full-time persons have been employed at the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) at a cost of €85,200. The above amounts were incurred in the year ending 31 October, 2011 and were payable to Eircom.
Courts Service — Accountancy Services
Contract accountancy services were provided by two separate companies 1) Reed and 2) Hays to the Courts Service. There were three staff provided in total, two through the company Reed and one through the company Hays. Two of the staff were employed in the Office of the Official Assignee in Bankruptcy and one in the Office of the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court. The cost of the services to date in 2011 is €195,260. The equivalent grade for these contract staff is Assistant Principal Officer level.
Courts Service — ICT Services
ICT Services were provided by Brightwater. Two staff were provided in total, a technical architect and a senior developer. The cost of the services to date in 2011 is €80,000. No equivalent staff are employed in the Courts Service.
Irish Prison Service (IPS)
CPL Healthcare Limited provide agency nurses to fill critical vacancies, both planned and unplanned, in any or all locations where the Irish Prison Service provide healthcare services. Agency nurses provide services similar to that provided by nurses employed directly by the Irish Prison Service. There are currently eight agency nurses engaged from CPL by the Irish Prison Service and are deployed to prisons across the prison estate.
In the first half of 2011, the cost of agency nurse services to the Irish Prison Service was €262,275. The cost of engaging an agency nurse is approximately 5% less than the cost of employing a nurse directly by the Irish Prison Service. However, when pension entitlements for civil servants (which are payable in the future) are factored in, the differential in employing nurses directly increases from approximately 5% to circa. 20% less than the cost of employing a nurse directly.
The Irish Prison Service holds contracts with two agencies, Locumlink and Locumotion, for the provision of GP services. The primary purpose of the contracts is to provide locum GPs to cover annual leave, sick leave and other absences of Irish Prison Service doctors.
National Disability Authority
The National Disability Authority (NDA), a small organisation with 33.4 whole time equivalent staff, uses recruitment agencies on an ad hoc basis to provide reception cover in exceptional circumstances, most notably when the full-time receptionist is out for a period of more than one week. Other than that the NDA covers leave taken by the full-time receptionist from internal resources. In this regard, the amount paid by the NDA to Premier Recruitment for the period from January 2011 to October 2011 was €1,113.78. This works out at an hourly rate €21.17 per hour plus VAT. This compares with approximately €13 per hour at the minimum point of the Receptionist pay scale and approximately €21 per hour at the maximum of the scale.
Finally ,in the time available, it was not possible to finalise information in respect of An Garda Síochána. The relevant information, if any, will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is to hand.
