I propose to take Questions Nos. 717, 731 and 747 together.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has a number of secondment agreements in place with other public sector organisations, European institutions, international organisations, and private sector organisations.
Outward secondments assist in building the Department’s strategic relationships with number of key organisations with a prominent role in defining policy approaches on issues of importance to Ireland. This includes EU institutions and other multilateral organisations. In addition, secondments provide officers with significant opportunities to broaden their skills and experience.
The Department of Foreign Affairs occasionally uses secondments to fill key specialised roles associated with time-bound projects and to facilitate temporary staff exchanges with strategic partners across the public and private sectors.
My Department also facilitates the regular inward secondment of officers from across Government Departments for posting to our network of overseas missions in order to ensure that appropriate resources are in place to promote, protect and advance Ireland’s key interests and values. At present, there are 127 such posts across our mission network, all of which are regularly advertised within the respective parent Departments. Costs are recouped from the relevant parent Department for 86 of these posts. Details of posts where full or partial costs are paid from my Department’s budget are set out in tabular form below.
Civil Servants seconded to my Department remain within Civil Service grade structures for pay purposes.
Secondment Agreements
