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Ministerial Staff

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 February 2012

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Questions (46)

Robert Troy

Question:

85 Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the cumulative total of payments to ministerial advisers in excess of the salary cap of €92,672; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11205/12]

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Written answers

The current Guidelines on Special Advisors provide, except in the Offices of the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste where separate arrangements apply, that they are to be placed on the Principal Officer (standard) scale, which currently runs from €80,051 at the minimum to €92,672 at the maximum.

Remuneration in excess of the maximum point of the Principal Officer (standard) scale has been sanctioned by me in a number of instances based on the business case presented. In the majority of cases this has been based on evidence of higher earnings in the previous employment and the need to secure the appointment of an individual with particular skills and expertise. Details of the cases where a higher salary was sanctioned are to be found in the following table.

The combined salary rates of €681,833 for the six advisers concerned amounted to an excess of €125,801 over the cap of €92,672.

List of Special Advisers above max of PO — Feb 2012

Department

Minister/Minister of State

Name of Adviser

Sanctioned Pay Rate

1

Agriculture Fisheries and Food

Minister Coveney

Ross MacMathuna

€110,000

2

Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Minister Rabbitte

Simon Nugent

€97,200

3

Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Minister Bruton

Ciaran Conlon

€127,000

4

Public Expenditure and Reform

Minister Howlin

Rónán O’Brien

€114,000

5

Social Protection

Minister Burton

Ed Brophy

€127,796

6

Transport, Tourism and Sport

Minister Varadkar

Brian Murphy

€105,837

Total

€681,833

Question No. 86 answered with Question No. 65.

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