asked the Minister for Finance the name, rank, salary, allowances and terms and conditions of employment of advisers and assistants, other than civil servants, at present employed by him or his Minister of State.
8.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Departmental Advisers and Assistants.
7.
asked the Minister for Finance the number of personal contract assistants employed by him and his Minister of State; the cost of each; and the overall cost to the taxpayer.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 8 together.
Miss Bernadette Grogan has been appointed as my personal secretary and Mr. James Reilly has been appointed as personal assistant to the Minister of State at the Department of Finance.
Both officers are on secondment from the Houses of the Oireachtas where they served as secretarial assistants. They have remained on the pay scale applicable to their former posts and in addition they are being paid a temporary allowance. Details are as follows: Miss Grogan's present salary is £119.52 per week plus an allowance of £11 per week and Mr. Reilly's present salary is £130.46 per week plus an allowance of £40.43 per week. The overall cost to the taxpayer is £6,805 per annum in respect of the personal secretary and £8,910 per annum in respect of the personal assistant.
The appointments, which were made under Civil Service Commission excluding orders, are temporary and will terminate not later than the date on which the present Government cease to hold office. The appointees will be required to carry out any duties which may be assigned to them at any time by the Minister for Finance or the Minister of State at the Department of Finance respectively as appropriate to the posts.
The situation has changed in only one respect since my answer to Parliamentary Question No. 699 of 26 January 1983 and No. 212 of 9 March 1983 in that Mr. Reilly's terms of remuneration have been settled.
While accepting that the cost to his Department is comparatively moderate, is the Minister not concerned about the answers given to a similar question from many of his colleagues? As Minister for Finance is he not concerned about the costs incurred by some of his ministerial colleagues providing advisers and secretarial assistants particularly in the case of the Minister for Labour whose annual cost is more than £85,000?
That is a separate question.
No, £85,000——
That is a separate question.
It is for the Minister for Finance to show concern about the enormous cost to taxpayers of ministerial advisers and assistants mainly drawn from the supporters of both parties in Government.
The Deputy will be aware——
The Chair has said that this is a separate question, but if the Minister has the information and wants to give it, he may answer the question.
In respect of this and other matters, there is no extra cost to the taxpayers. The officers I have spoken about under this question are on secondment from the Houses of the Oireachtas where they would be employed in any case.
I did not ask only about that——
I further draw the Deputy's attention to the fact that the appointments made under the excluding orders are temporary and will terminate not later than the date on which the present Government cease to hold office, a change in practice brought in by this Government and a highly desirable change when compared to previous practices.
What about the ministerial colleagues of the Minister for Finance?
Is somebody else replacing those officers who have been seconded from the Houses of the Oireachtas, or was the work they were doing so irrelevant that they did not require replacement?
The Deputy is being deliberately tendentious in making that statement. One of the officers to whom I referred worked as my secretary when I was in this House and under the arrangements for providing secretarial assistance no net extra number is involved by a transfer of this kind.
What about the Minister's colleagues? I am very interested in them. All their advisers and assistants did not come from the Houses of the Oireachtas.