Eamon Gilmore
Ceist:1 Mr. Gilmore asked the Taoiseach the number of persons employed in his constituency office, his private office and those of his Ministers of State; the rank of each person; and the salary paid in each case.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Departmental Personnel.
The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the schedule which I propose to circulate. The figures represent a decrease in the total number employed in similar capacities by my two immediate predecessors.
|
Schedule |
|
|
(1) Taoiseach |
|
|
Private Office |
£ |
|
1 Special Adviser |
44,882 |
|
1 Assistant Principal (Private Secretary) |
35,581 |
|
1 Higher Executive Officer (Assistant Private Secretary) |
25,808 |
|
1 Higher Executive Officer |
18,243 |
|
1 Staff Officer |
14,903 |
|
3 Clerical Officers |
12,547 |
|
10,683 |
|
|
12,547 |
|
|
3 Clerical Assistants (Typists) |
12,485 |
|
11,438 |
|
|
9,501 |
|
|
Constituency Office |
|
|
1 Adviser |
21,000 |
|
2 Personal Secretaries |
17,730 |
|
17,106 |
|
|
1 Personal Assistant |
16,776 |
|
1 Executive Officer |
13,405 |
|
3 Clerical Officers |
12,036 |
|
13,768 |
|
|
11,330 |
|
|
1 Clerical Assistant |
9,294 |
|
1 Clerical Assistant (Typist) |
9,610 |
|
(2) Minister of State and Government Chief Whip |
|
|
Private Office |
|
|
1 Higher Executive Officer (Private Secretary) |
24,353 |
|
1 Staff Officer |
13,770 |
|
1 Clerical Officer |
12,547 |
|
1 Clerical Assistant |
11,104 |
|
Constituency Office |
|
|
1 Personal Secretary |
13,591 |
|
2 Clerical Assistants |
10,051 |
|
9,144 |
|
|
(3) Minister of State Tom Kitt |
|
|
Private Office |
|
|
1 Higher Executive Officer |
23,740 |
|
(Private Secretary) |
|
|
1 Clerical Officer |
11,330 |
|
1 Clerical Assistant |
12,485 |
|
Constituency Office |
|
|
1 Personal Secretary |
17,303 |
|
1 Personal Assistant |
14,903 |
|
1 Clerical Officer |
12,547 |
|
1 Clerical Assistant |
9,144 |
I thank the Taoiseach for the comprehensive nature of his reply and look forward to reading the schedule. Can the Taoiseach confirm to the House that the numbers of civil servants now employed by him and by various Ministers and Ministers of State are as many as five and six doing constituency work? Can he explain to the House the logic of employing political activists as advisers to do the work of civil servants, then requiring civil servants to do the work of political activists engaged essentially in constituency work on behalf of Ministers?
The Deputy is being somewhat naive and hypocritical trying to insinuate that civil servants are becoming involved in politics when clearly they are not. It has been a long tradition in this House, on the part of successive Governments, that, when Ministers and Ministers of State are appointed at the Taoiseach's Department, one employs the necessary staff to carry out one's duties thereby enabling one to do the job properly. I have always believed strongly in the proposition that when people have a job to do, they should always be provided with the requisite wherewithal.
The question I posed is not a very complicated one. Will the Taoiseach say how many civil servants are doing constituency work in his Department?
I have already answered the Deputy to the effect that I am circulating a schedule containing details of every person employed in my Department. I might draw his attention to the fact — lest he is worried that I am piling up numbers that did not exist before — that there are fewer than those employed by my two immediate predecessors—
Would the Taoiseach please tell us how many?
There are five fewer than were engaged by my immediate predecessor and two fewer than my predecessor before that.
How many has the Taoiseach got?
Thirty-five in total.
Would Deputies allow the Chair to comment? In circumstances such as these, where the information is contained in a tabular statement, Deputies should await the information contained in it.
I do not agree, a Cheann Comhairle.
The Taoiseach is treating this House in an extremely insulting fashion. I asked him a straight question: how many civil servants does he have engaged on constituency work in his office. There is a straight, numerical answer to that question. I would ask him to give it.
That question has been asked some three times.
I have already answered that part of the question.
The Taoiseach has not.
There is a tabular statement involved here. Before Deputies put an unintentional construction on it they should first read it.
Would the Taoiseach agree that, when he became Taoiseach, he announced he was in favour of open Government. How does he render that consistent with the deliberate abuse of a parliamentary privilege to fail to disclose information viva voce in the House about the numbers he has employed on constituency work by the use of a tabular statement?
I am surprised that the Deputy would even insinuate such a thing. I come into the House not alone to give full details but all and every detail of the rank of such personnel, as requested. Yesterday the complaint of the people opposite was that my answer was too long. Today they contend my answer is too short. There are 17 people in the three constituency offices in my Department. I answered the other part of the question posed by Deputy Gilmore but, as usual, he was endeavouring to anticipate a different question being posed by himself. The full information is contained in the tabular statement. The Deputy can feel free to table further questions next week.
May I ask the Taoiseach, in relation to appointments — particularly in relation to an appointment announced by him in the House on 18 February 1992 in reply to a question from the Leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Spring, when he said he had appointed an adviser to look after overall operations and interaction between Departments——
The Deputy is quoting which is not in order now.
In relation to appointments, would the Taoiseach say whether it is proposed to appoint a media adviser in replacement of former media adviser, Mr. Tom Savage——
I dislike intensely reference to personalities.
——who was not reappointed? In regard to appointments would the Taoiseach say whether it is proposed to recommence the weekly press briefings undertaken by his predecessors?
The Deputy is now introducing extraneous matter.
They were abandoned.
In relation to appointments, may I ask the Taoiseach about the appointment of a special media adviser——
Deputies should await seeing the tabular statement with the reply.
A Cheann Comhairle, I have seen the tabular statement and the information is not contained in it. Therefore, may I ask the Taoiseach whether it is proposed to appoint——
That is a separate question.
——a special media adviser? Would the Taoiseach answer "yes" or "no"?
That is a separate question which if the Deputy will table I will be glad to answer next week.
I did and it was ruled out of order. Would the Taoiseach say whether it is true that the Tánaiste has disallowed the appointment?
A final question. I am not prepared to allow a debate on this issue now.
Is it true that the Tánaiste has disallowed the appointment——
No, it is not.
Deputy Higgins will now resume his seat——
——or the special weekly press briefings? I take it that is true.
Deputy Higgins is continuing in defiance of the Chair.
They stopped the briefings all right. Open Government did not last very long.
They are getting plenty of it now.
Can the Taoiseach say how he can justify the employment of 17 civil servants by various Ministers in his Department to engage in work which is exclusively constituency work of those Members, particularly at a time when the public service generally is under-staffed and over-stretched — 17 people chasing other public servants to provide preferential treatment for those Ministers.
Let us avoid speech making at Question Time.
They are not, as the Deputy would endeavour to have the House believe, engaged in the duties about which he is talking. They are comprised of a variety of personal secretaries and others. If Deputies do not want to listen to the answer that is fine. If they ever intend getting back into Government — and they must not, bearing in mind the type of questions they are posing in relation to the staff employed in my Department — they can linger on in their frustration and long may it remain so.
Do they shine the Taoiseach's shoes for him?