Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 February 2013
541. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Defence if he will provide details of the payment of bonuses or other performance related payments and or allowances made to the staff of agencies under the aegis of his Department with a yearly breakdown from 2008 outlining the overall amount paid in each year period and the number of staff that received such payments and or allowances. [10162/13]
View answer542. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Defence if he will provide details of payments made to the CEO or equivalent of all agencies under the aegis of his Department including details of any bonuses, pension entitlements or any other remuneration paid to him or her in 2012. [10179/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 541 and 542 together.
The agencies associated with the Department in the period 2008 to 2012 were the Civil Defence Board, the Army Pensions Board and the Board of Coiste an Asgard. The agencies were staffed by civil servants.
No bonuses or other performance related payments and or allowances have been made to these staff since 2008.
The Civil Defence Board was identified in the Public Service Reform Plan as a body to be abolished. Legislation was passed by the Oireachtas in December 2012 for the dissolution of the Board and the transfer of its functions back to the Department of Defence. The Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Defence Board in 2012 was a serving civil servant at Principal Officer grade. The arrangements that apply to the CEO in respect of pension and expenses are the same as for all Civil Service staff.
In the context of settling the Estimates for the Department of Defence for 2010, the Government decided that the national sail training scheme operated by Coiste an Asgard would be discontinued as recommended in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure. An application for voluntary strike-off was made to the Companies Registration Office in January 2013 seeking the removal of Coiste an Asgard from the Companies Register, and the Company is expected to be officially struck off by mid 2013.
Neither the Army Pensions Board nor the Board of Coiste an Asgard has a Chief Executive Officer.
