Written Answers Nos. 518-527
518. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the political activities of each special adviser, special press adviser, or any other type of ministerial adviser in his Department; if any of them were members of a political party; if so, the parties to which they belonged; if any of them are or have been elected local authority members; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37579/12]
View answerThe Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour (September 2004) sets out the terms and conditions of service, including the engagement in political activity, of all civil servants including Ministerial appointees. Section 5.4 of the Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour excludes staff holding temporary unestablished positions and whose tenure is coterminous with that of the relevant Minister from the restrictions on engaging in political activity as set out in Section 5 of the Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour.
519. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the amount spent by his Department on drivers and ministerial transport since February 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37595/12]
View answerIn response to the Deputy’s question, the amount spent by his Department on drivers and Ministerial transport since February 2011 has been €148,847.06. This cost includes mileage (which is to cover car-related expenses), the salaries paid to civilian drivers, travel and subsistence paid to the drivers and Employer PRSI contributions in respect of the two drivers.
520. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the total amount spent since February 2011 on external reports commissioned by his Department, including payments from ministerial allowances, details of the consultants employed and costs of each; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37627/12]
View answerSince February 2011, the following amounts were paid to external consultants in respect of reports commissioned by my Department: €615 was paid to Davy Corporate Finance in respect of a study carried out for the Department on options for the next National Lottery licence; €1,210 was paid to Mercer in respect of data used for input to the Organisational Review Programme; €41,043 was paid to RedC in respect of a post-Referendum (Oireachtas Inquiries) survey conducted for the Department, as discussed at Joint Oireachtas Committee of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform; and €30,750 was paid to Accenture in respect of the Procurement Review published on the Department's website. With regard to Ministerial allowances, the Deputy will be aware that these are block payments which can, within certain guidelines laid down by the Standards in Public Office Commission, be used at the discretion of the Minister. However, I have not used any such funds available for this purpose.
521. Deputy Nicky McFadden asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when a funding decision will be made for the refurbishment of Athlone Garda station; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37738/12]
View answerI am advised by the Office of Public Works (OPW) that preparation of design and contract documentation for this project is at an advanced stage. The project is one of a number of priorities identified by An Garda Síochána to the OPW and will be progressed to tender and construction stages when funding becomes available. The project will continue to be kept under review in that context.
522. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will supply a list of all Labour Court recommendations that have been issued in respect of his Department and organisations under his aegis that have not been complied with in full; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37758/12]
View answerThere are no Labour Court recommendations that have not been complied with in full in respect of my Department or organisations under the aegis of my Department.
523. Deputy Nicky McFadden asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide an update on the national programme for revaluation of commercial and industrial properties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37784/12]
View answerThe work of the Valuation Office is underpinned by the Valuation Act 2001 which provides for the valuation of all commercial and industrial property. The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the performance of his functions under the Act and the making of valuations for local authority rating is his sole prerogative. The statute does not accord me, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, any function in this regard. In accordance with the 2001 Act, a national programme is being rolled out progressively for the revaluation of all commercial and industrial properties in the State. The revaluation programme aims to provide up-to-date valuations for individual properties across all economic sectors that are subject to local authority rates. The revaluation process is the mechanism whereby economic changes that take place in the property market are reflected in the valuation lists for rates purposes and in individual ratepayers’ rates liabilities. It is an important programme, especially given the significant changes in values and rents following the economic downturn of recent years. The purpose of a revaluation is to redistribute commercial rates liabilities among ratepayers based on up-to-date values. Following revaluation, there will be a much closer relationship between rental value and commercial rates liability. Revaluation of the Valuation List is not meant to reduce the amount of rates revenue collected. On average, businesses do not benefit from a revaluation although some ratepayers may benefit if relative valuations of different types of commercial property change. Overall, revaluation results in a fairer distribution of the rates burden.
The revaluation programme, which has been completed in three county council areas in Dublin, began in November 2005 in the South Dublin County Council area and has since been rolled out to the areas covered by Fingal and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Councils. The revaluation of South Dublin was completed in December 2007, the revaluation of Fingal was completed in 2009 and the revaluation of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was completed in 2010. The revaluation of Dublin City Council area began in May 2011 and will be completed in 2013. The Commissioner signed valuation orders for Waterford on 12 December 2011 and Limerick on 29 March 2012. The Waterford and Limerick revaluations will be completed in 2013 and 2014 respectively. It is intended to extend the revaluation programme to further local authority areas as soon as it is practicable to do so but it is not possible at present to say where these areas will be. While the extension of the project to Dublin City is the major current focus and represents an important advance, the Commissioner has expressed his concern that the present rate of progress may not allow the Office to complete the job nationally within the ten years from 2008 which the Office previously indicated. With the intention of speeding up the revaluation programme, the Commissioner has indicated that two pilot schemes were to be undertaken on outsourcing some of the work and exploring the possibility of introducing a self-assessment scheme. The enabling provisions to allow for the start-up of these schemes are included in the Valuation (Amendment) Bill 2012 which was published on 3 August 2012 as part of the Government’s legislative programme.
524. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of State bodies that have been set up since 9 March 2011; the rationale behind these decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37825/12]
View answerNo State bodies have been set up by my Department since 9 March 2011.
525. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the position regarding recruiting persons with a disability; the number of persons currently employed in his Department; the number of persons with a disability who have been employed since 1 January 2011 to date in 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37842/12]
View answerThe Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was established in July 2011. In common with all other Civil Service Departments and Offices, the Department fully implements the Government’s policy on the employment of people with a disability. The Government’s policy is supported by the Code of Practice for the Employment of People with a Disability in the Irish Civil Service and the sharing of advice and information through the Civil Service Disability Liaison Officers Network. Recruitment competitions run by the Public Appointments Service are open to all, including people with disabilities, subject to them meeting the eligibility requirements of the competition in question. Application forms invite applicants to indicate if they have special requirements when undergoing the selection process and the Public Appointments Service makes every effort to facilitate these requirements. A survey of staff carried out in 2011 to compile data on staff with disabilities, indicated that 6.5% of staff (from a staffing complement of 309) in the Department had a disability.
526. Deputy Patrick Nulty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if there will be a stipulation insisting that only builders and developers who have fully discharged their responsibilities with regard to previous developments be eligible to tender for stimulus funding in the construction sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37937/12]
View answerIn July of this year, I announced the Government’s €2.25 billion Infrastructure Stimulus Package which will provide investment in a range of important and much-needed new projects. The stimulus package is additional to the investment outlined in the Exchequer Capital Framework, which was published last November, and will be largely predicated on using non-Exchequer sources of funding to support the first phase of a new PPP Programme of projects in key areas of infrastructure. As the Deputy is aware, public capital infrastructure projects are procured either as Exchequer-funded projects or as Public Private Partnerships. PPPs are arrangements between the public and private sectors (consistent with a broad range of possible partnership structures) with clear agreement on shared objectives for the delivery of public infrastructure and/or public services by the private sector that would otherwise have been provided through traditional public sector procurement. The procurement of infrastructure projects via PPP involves a tendering process whereby consortia are invited to bid, in most instances, to Design, Build, Finance, Maintain and Operate a particular piece of public infrastructure. The consortium must be in a position to secure private debt financing and private equity to support its bid. The consortium is subject to an extensive financial due diligence process by the private funding providers prior to loan approval.
The National Development Finance Agency, which is the State's centre of expertise for PPPs, is responsible for the procurement of all PPPs except those in the transport sector. The National Roads Authority is responsible for roads procurement and the Railway Procurement Agency is responsible for rail PPPs. Tender competitions for the new PPP programme will continue to be conducted in line with national and EU public procurement procedures. It is important to note that Article 45 of Council Directive 2004/18/EC (as implemented in Ireland by Regulation 53 of the Procurement Regulations) provides for situations where a person can be excluded from participation in a public contract. Specifically, a public authority may exclude from consideration a person who: is subject to a bankruptcy or insolvency procedure or process; has been found guilty of professional misconduct; has breached tax or social security laws and regulations; or has provided misleading information to the authority. My Department sets the overall procurement policy for public bodies; however, it is a matter for each sponsoring authority, in conjunction with the procuring authority, to set, within the confines of that policy, the eligibility conditions of each tender process.
527. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will conclude the consultation between his Department and the Department of Education and Skills in relation to the payment of a Labour Court recommendation which was decided on 27 September 2011 in view of the unnecessary hardship that is being caused by the non-payment of this amount in line with the Labour Court recommendation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38058/12]
View answerIn the particular case referred to by the Deputy, it is the position that while the consultation process by the Department of Education and Skills and my Department is still ongoing, the matter is expected to be concluded in the near future.
