Exchequer Savings

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Questions (387)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

387. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Education and Skills the annual saving to the Exchequer if all State agency board fees were reduced by 25% under the aegis of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35798/13]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the following table in respect of those bodies currently under the aegis of my Department that are paid fees from the Exchequer, namely: Commission into Child Abuse, Foras Áiseanna Saothair, Grangegorman Development Agency, Higher Education Authority, Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB), Residential Institutions Review Committee (RIRC), and Skillnets Ltd.

Remuneration/Fees Applicable in 2013

Agency Name (and Website Address)	Chairperson	Ordinary Member	Chairperson With 25% reduction applied	Ordinary Member With 25% reduction applied
Commission into Child Abuse www.childabusecommission.ie	See Note 1	See Note 1	See Note 1	See Note 1
Foras Áiseanna Saothair www.fas.ie	€20,520	€11,790	€15,390	€8,842.50
Grangegorman Development Agency www.ggda.ie	€8,978	€0	€6,733.50	€0
Higher Education Authority www.hea.ie	€11,970	€7,695	€8,977.50	€5,771.25
Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) www.rirb.ie	See Note 2	See Note 2	See Note 2	See Note 2
Residential Institutions Review Committee (RIRC) See RIRB website	See Note 2	See Note 2	See Note 2	See Note 2
Skillnets Ltd www.skillnets.ie	€8,978	€5,985	€6,733.50	€4,488.75

Note 1: The Chairperson of the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse (CICA) is a member of the Judiciary and is not paid by the CICA. The ordinary members of the Commission, who were all salaried are not currently on the payroll.

Note 2: The Chairman of the RIRB is paid an annual salary equivalent to a serving President of the Circuit Court subject to abatement to take account of his pension.

In relation to the RIRC, the Chairman's salary is linked to his former Supreme Court judicial salary subject to pension abatement. Since October 2011, the Chairman has taken a 50% voluntary reduction in his salary.

The other board members of both the RIRB and the RIRC are paid a per diem rate and pension abatement applies in the case of members receiving a pension from the State. The per diem rate from 1 January 2011 is €668.