Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 July 2016
10. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the changes to staffing and to the salaries of advisers in his Department since 1 March 2016; the changes he will implement in the structure and responsibilities in his Department subsequent to the formation of the new Government; and if he will recruit a new economic adviser to work in his Department. [21097/16]
View answerMy Department's core role is to support me, the Government and the Ministers of State assigned to my Department in relation to all our domestic, EU and international responsibilities, and to oversee implementation of the Programme for a Partnership Government.
The Programme for a Partnership Government tasks my Department with new and important challenges in areas such as the EU Digital Single Market, the proposed Citizen's Assembly, and Seanad reform. In addition, my Department will support the work of new Cabinet Committees, Government Action Plans on Jobs, Housing and Rural Affairs and other initiatives such as an initiative for the North East Inner City Dublin. This is in addition to my Department's many ongoing responsibilities across a wide range of areas.
The Programme for Government Office, based in my Department, will continue to monitor implementation of commitments across all Government Departments and regularly report progress to me. The structures used to advance key priorities include Cabinet Committees; bilaterals with relevant Ministers; and regular engagement at official level with Government Departments.
Taking account of the need to maintain a new relationship between the Oireachtas and the Government, the Office of the Chief Whip will have an expanded role in terms of more active management of all aspects of the legislative process, working with Government Departments and the Houses of the Oireachtas. As part of this process, the Chief Whip's Office will work closely with a new Parliamentary Liaison Unit and the Programme for Government Office to track progress across all policy and legislative commitments.
The outcome of the UK referendum on EU Membership will also have structural and other implications for my Department and across Government. The next few years will see the most important negotiations Ireland has faced in a generation, on a par with the accession to the EU and the peace process. I have, therefore, made a number of decisions with a view to ensuring that we are best placed to deal effectively with the implications of Brexit for Ireland, namely:
- I will establish and chair a new Cabinet Committee on Brexit to oversee the overall Government response to Brexit, including both the economic impact and the negotiations at EU level and with the administrations in London and Belfast. The Minister of State for European Affairs will play a key role in the work of this Cabinet Committee;
- The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will play a bigger role on EU matters, with the re-institution of a Division dealing with EU affairs in that Department, including Brexit, led by a Second Secretary General and working in close co-operation with my Department and other Government Departments;
- The EU work of my Department will be focused on direct support for me and the Minister of State for European Affairs, whole of Government and strategic issues, including Brexit, and the secretariat to Cabinet Committees. Some existing staff and functions within my Department's EU Division will transfer to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade;
- My Department's existing EU, British-Irish and Northern Ireland, and International Divisions will be integrated under a Second Secretary General who will be appointed shortly. This will ensure that we have a comprehensive approach to all of the implications of Brexit, including opportunities as well as threats;
- There will also be a strengthening of staffing in other key Departments and Agencies and in our missions abroad to ensure that we have the capacity to deal with Brexit; and
- There will also be a broader public consultation - including on an inclusive all-island basis - and an ongoing engagement with other parties in the Oireachtas, as well as with the Brexit Stakeholder Group which has already been meeting for some time now.
There have been no changes to the staffing and salaries of advisers in my Department since 1 March, 2016. There are currently five Special Advisers employed in my Department, four of whom are my Special Advisers and one of whom is Special Adviser to the Government Chief Whip.
On 5 July 2016, the Government decided to nominate Andrew McDowell for the position of Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The Department of Finance has notified the EIB Secretariat of the nomination from Ireland’s constituency.
The EIB Secretariat will now commence the Bank’s selection and approval process for the post of Vice President, including the initiation of the voting process by the Bank’s Board of Directors and subsequently the Bank’s Board of Governors representing each EU Government.
