Departmental Staff Allowances

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

Questions (397)

John Paul Phelan

Question:

397. Deputy John Paul Phelan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the rent allowances available to public servants and his departmental officials who are posted overseas, by country, for each of the years 2005 to 2015 in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3247/16]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

The Department of Foreign Affairs provides officers who serve the State abroad with a rent allowance to enable them to rent suitable accommodation at post if required. The rent allowance is only provided to officers who are not eligible to reside in State-provided accommodation. The Department uses an independent advisory service to advise on appropriate rent levels in the locations in which it is based around the world. The primary criteria in assessing rent allowances is the size of the officer’s family (i.e. whether the officer’s spouse or civil partner is accompanying them on post and whether some or all of an officer’s children are accompanying). Other possible considerations would include security requirements (in locations where additional security protection is needed), proximity to schools and the Mission, as well as health and safety issues. Assessments are also made as to the representational/promotional work associated with particular posts and if the property is likely to be frequently used for promotional work.

Officers receiving a rent allowance remain personally responsible for all payments in respect of beneficial services such as heating, water, lighting, gas, telephone, TV, refuse collection, maintenance of central heating etc. in the same manner as would apply when they are stationed in Ireland.

Rent allowances are fixed for the duration of an officer’s assignment abroad apart from provisions provided for in leases for mandatory cost of living index increases.

The following table details the total Vote 28 rental allowance outlay for the period 2005-15 in the locations abroad where our Missions are located.

Expenditure under A1-RENT subhead for 2005-2015 in respect of D/FAT staff serving abroad

Name of Mission	Year	Year	Year	Year	Year	Year
Name	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
	€	€	€	€	€	€
ABU DHABI	0	0	0	0	57,035	72,229
ABUJA	0	0	0	117,036	0	0
ANKARA	39,111	44,266	47,507	42,663	33,290	33,215
ATHENS	34,206	41,818	38,744	37,369	55,336	55,904
ATLANTA	0	0	0	0	0	13,556
AUSTIN	0	0	0	0	0	0
BANGKOK	0	0	0	0	0	0
BEIJING	0	0	0	0	33,833	71,054
BERLIN	150,108	130,831	136,462	142,146	137,687	149,904
BERNE	15,700	15,204	17,009	16,070	30,913	21,844
BOSTON	91,207	94,833	88,777	81,721	89,827	96,873
BRASILIA	22,843	27,128	23,163	28,172	27,194	38,018
BRATISLAVA	16,453	22,503	20,400	20,535	23,510	27,658
BRUSSELS (EMBASSY)	-147,179	32,520	32,851	36,291	33,569	21,894
BRUSSELS (PfP)	110,677	99,354	80,754	51,298	59,167	49,060
BRUSSELS (PR-EU)	1,067,234	1,219,504	1,275,184	1,275,228	1,234,797	1,244,288
BUCHAREST	28,039	84,000	84,000	75,250	46,825	36,045
BUDAPEST	23,905	21,535	32,119	39,954	34,169	31,089
BUENOS AIRES	22,368	23,633	12,636	14,605	16,728	19,129
CAIRO	34,212	35,625	42,612	42,805	56,950	46,920
CANBERRA	0	0	0	0	0	0
CARDIFF	28,920	37,925	36,504	21,275	13,576	0
CHICAGO	84,243	79,498	93,413	81,676	78,052	72,163
COPENHAGEN	36,934	32,444	43,585	42,976	27,788	14,300
EDINBURGH	81,725	87,895	91,935	83,782	81,510	78,240
EU PRESIDENCY 2013	0	0	0	0	0	0
GENEVA	304,676	186,384	188,682	200,008	207,830	227,007
HELSINKI	45,600	63,567	38,653	39,075	41,600	42,000
HONG KONG	0	0	0	0	0	0
HOLY SEE	28,800	25,600	36,154	37,600	37,602	36,510
Human Resources	9,632	0	30,659	0	77,481	136,631
IRISH ABROAD	0	0	0	0	0	0
KUALA LUMPUR	8,009	10,536	35,634	34,234	34,224	35,719
LISBON	46,849	46,318	28,190	48,249	48,649	41,122
LJUBLJANA	19,500	18,442	22,406	35,335	20,866	19,330
LONDON	1,454,102	1,538,915	1,662,957	1,549,650	1,368,815	1,314,842
LUXEMBOURG	15,180	21,297	30,829	19,200	19,200	12,800
MADRID	127,126	174,485	210,268	224,483	224,785	173,019
MEXICO	51,766	56,357	48,084	53,820	54,178	45,006
MOSCOW	23,185	118,708	122,334	112,478	109,246	107,920
NEW DELHI	11,195	193	34,245	35,295	34,317	21,345
NEW YORK - C.G.	211,864	197,283	198,038	177,412	178,488	192,161
NEW YORK - PMUN	501,845	433,066	525,680	489,638	527,708	525,530
NICOSIA	0	0	0	0	7,800	15,600
OSCE - VIENNA	61,844	46,738	52,762	56,663	49,729	69,664
OSLO	24,696	22,522	19,233	25,652	22,976	26,821
OTTAWA	38,719	42,256	37,615	38,641	36,893	35,418
PARIS	381,464	469,584	414,362	409,914	392,344	382,465
PRAGUE	29,261	34,422	47,880	46,945	40,259	25,717
PRETORIA	51,453	50,907	10,563	36,220	40,780	46,206
RAMALLAH	15,607	82,390	35,106	24,165	26,818	32,127
RIGA	2,422	14,536	13,094	15,889	15,604	9,502
RIYADH	3,865	3,532	3,809	23,565	3,468	2,666
ROME	110,569	123,040	144,474	162,532	175,540	158,230
SAN FRANCISCO	87,166	92,154	84,746	76,441	87,256	91,351
SAO PAOLO	0	0	0	0	0	0
SEOUL	2,062	3,429	68,621	31,512	37,071	4,265
SHANGHAI	0	0	0	59,762	64,098	55,388
SINGAPORE	87,373	132,812	164,654	159,935	136,035	115,641
SOFIA	14,300	35,906	36,656	32,994	16,800	16,800
STOCKHOLM	20,334	13,477	20,635	17,791	16,157	15,618
STRASBOURG	21,691	26,523	25,673	23,868	23,485	25,992
SYDNEY	111,368	48,028	163,069	130,246	134,480	129,254
TALLINN	20,707	20,707	22,744	20,707	20,707	12,776
TEHRAN	49,563	43,686	43,253	39,129	42,922	39,273
TEL AVIV	41,340	46,672	30,069	43,568	66,122	61,278
THE HAGUE	73,996	90,343	93,839	116,075	124,205	125,389
TOKYO	182,866	159,226	141,133	154,623	179,224	187,505
VIENNA	47,078	52,701	50,188	51,230	57,155	55,560
VILNIUS	4,634	13,903	9,255	17,453	18,113	19,223
WARSAW	71,315	129,232	73,011	73,066	74,431	68,960
WASHINGTON DC	371,901	333,414	321,594	323,322	348,478	392,269
ARCHITECTURAL SERV	0	0	0	0	5,713	2,000
TRAINING & DEV	0	0	0	0	0	-1,258
OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals by year	€6,527,625	€7,153,806	€7,538,502	€7,519,235	€7,421,404	€7,346,024

Name of Mission	Year	Year	Year	Year	Year
Name	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
	€	€	€	€	€
ABU DHABI	37,686	39,157	30,871	1,949	57,831
ABUJA	0	10,455	150	0	0
ANKARA	35,261	33,093	35,853	53,790	38,438
ATHENS	56,625	33,901	20,981	50,123	50,019
ATLANTA	39,387	45,506	45,175	46,921	61,747
AUSTIN	0	0	0	1,898	34,609
BANGKOK	0	0	0	4,035	25,324
BEIJING	77,600	98,107	104,966	83,036	56,254
BERLIN	145,310	129,741	125,210	143,942	132,427
BERNE	24,083	22,704	22,286	24,233	30,524
BOSTON	88,303	76,482	55,533	72,197	85,252
BRASILIA	42,508	35,684	25,197	29,025	21,782
BRATISLAVA	29,329	12,244	0	0	0
BRUSSELS (EMBASSY)	24,303	14,821	13,195	16,688	14,565
BRUSSELS (PfP)	61,348	44,220	27,968	31,252	30,487
BRUSSELS (PR-EU)	1,250,172	1,250,537	1,216,380	1,103,194	1,096,745
BUCHAREST	39,248	39,601	39,487	26,816	21,172
BUDAPEST	30,909	28,983	30,140	26,249	16,199
BUENOS AIRES	19,734	14,828	22,286	19,330	29,099
CAIRO	60,770	67,477	59,955	62,077	76,530
CANBERRA	0	0	16,399	34,908	43,131
CARDIFF	0	0	0	0	0
CHICAGO	72,981	72,840	66,085	89,275	103,643
COPENHAGEN	14,485	14,692	24,298	24,717	26,196
EDINBURGH	66,685	97,006	94,003	89,118	105,753
EU PRESIDENCY 2013	0	88,686	133,956	0	0
GENEVA	255,750	269,167	315,060	254,895	249,066
HELSINKI	42,000	40,404	39,600	39,600	36,900
HONG KONG	0	0	0	29,080	295,062
HOLY SEE	25,466	0	0	0	0
Human Resources	197,137	90,037	90,466	260,260	159,901
IRISH ABROAD	0	0	1,777	0	0
KUALA LUMPUR	39,318	42,174	30,498	24,813	13,810
LISBON	33,000	23,967	16,800	9,147	6,359
LJUBLJANA	18,936	19,649	16,410	17,658	17,674
LONDON	1,203,306	1,135,341	1,014,419	1,091,888	1,170,904
LUXEMBOURG	0	0	0	0	0
MADRID	112,840	106,689	101,381	115,458	116,991
MEXICO	50,861	56,965	55,802	63,897	77,574
MOSCOW	143,189	141,702	149,570	79,819	70,918
NEW DELHI	6,806	41,595	62,574	77,129	79,299
NEW YORK - C.G.	193,239	183,991	138,049	153,727	180,602
NEW YORK - PMUN	492,028	497,241	520,961	463,811	627,981
NICOSIA	16,100	17,300	10,000	0	0
OSCE - VIENNA	63,612	72,741	71,193	61,590	52,410
OSLO	29,564	28,827	27,181	27,507	26,118
OTTAWA	33,838	32,220	34,004	33,973	67,279
PARIS	362,018	361,785	340,437	333,494	337,133
PRAGUE	24,463	18,738	18,025	0	11,385
PRETORIA	42,980	38,535	31,622	35,546	0
RAMALLAH	30,703	36,770	33,321	32,613	40,496
RIGA	0	0	0	0	0
RIYADH	3,285	3,414	3,620	3,600	3,610
ROME	118,994	136,906	121,340	137,083	132,229
SAN FRANCISCO	86,571	81,704	72,356	89,581	109,884
SAO PAOLO	0	0	0	0	53,664
SEOUL	16,120	1,929	10,198	799	-76
SHANGHAI	56,973	71,843	151,881	213,261	204,422
SINGAPORE	102,468	111,647	87,494	35,137	58,761
SOFIA	15,601	18,201	24,000	15,900	15,600
STOCKHOLM	16,500	20,673	24,366	32,000	18,152
STRASBOURG	24,268	26,226	27,088	22,477	23,162
SYDNEY	134,979	131,027	114,922	105,250	90,009
TALLINN	0	0	0	0	0
TEHRAN	35,246	3,056	0	0	0
TEL AVIV	56,861	51,338	73,507	67,745	25,845
THE HAGUE	110,015	110,846	104,732	100,421	82,927
TOKYO	174,814	206,005	165,498	143,376	136,388
VIENNA	57,460	57,575	49,411	48,711	47,576
VILNIUS	14,736	14,736	10,339	0	0
WARSAW	69,929	46,393	17,134	17,217	17,207
WASHINGTON DC	353,545	359,313	323,637	322,137	343,876
ARCHITECTURAL SERV	0	0	0	0	0
TRAINING & DEV	0	0	0	0	0
OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP	89,945	100,558	5,676	0	0
Totals by year	€7,172,190	€7,079,988	€6,716,721	€6,595,367	€7,158,818

NOTES

This table provides a summary of the expenditure incurred for each mission over the 2005-2015 period. In the time available to answer the question, it was not possible to provide a more detailed breakdown.

The costs by mission may vary considerably depending on the number of officers requiring accommodation at post in any given year.

While all costs relate to the provision of accommodation for staff abroad, a small proportion of expenditure is attributed to cost centres at Headquarters for accounting purposes.