Vol. 480 No. 7
3 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Taoiseach the persons appointed to his Department as unestablished civil servants or on contract since his election as Taoiseach; if he will give a brief description of the duties of each such person; the salary payable; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14636/97]
The information sought is contained in a schedule which is being circulated. The total number of unestablished civil servants attached to my Department is 12 compared to 25 in the last Government. There are six established civil servants on loan working as personal assistants and as Government press secretary in my offices.
SCHEDULE
1. The following unestablished civil servants have been appointed as personal staff during the current administration:
Office of the Taoiseach
|
Name |
Position |
Annual Salary |
|
Dr. Martin Mansergh |
Special Adviser on Northern Ireland, Economic and Social matters |
£62,732 |
|
Gerry Hickey |
Programme Manager and Special Adviser |
£82,715 |
|
Paddy Duffy |
Special Adviser |
£50,364 |
|
Evelyn Eager |
Personal Assistant to Dr. Mansergh |
£22,676 |
Constituency Office
|
Name |
Position |
Annual Salary |
|
Debbie Miller |
Personal Secretary |
£11,994 |
|
Grainne Carruth |
Personal Secretary |
£13,530 |
Government Press Office/Government Information Services
|
Name |
Position |
Annual Salary |
|
John Murray |
Deputy Government Press Secretary/Head of GIS |
£42,000 |
|
Jackie Gallagher |
Special Adviser |
£44,000 |
|
Kristin Quinn |
Personal Assistant to Mr. Murray |
£23,000 |
|
Marty Whelan |
Manager, Communications Unit |
£30,477 |
2. Office of the Chief Whip
|
Name |
Position |
Annual Salary |
|
Frank Lahiffe |
Personal Assistant |
£20,285 |
|
Mary Browne |
Personal Secretary |
£19,921 |
3. Programme Manager to the Tánaiste
|
Name |
Position |
Annual Salary |
|
Katharine Bulbulia |
Programme Manager to the Tánaiste |
£53,477 |
4. Finally, the following individuals have also been appointed on a contract basis to bodies under my Department's remit since my election:
|
Name |
Position |
Annual Salary |
|
John O'Dowd |
Joint Director of the National Centre for Partnership |
£52,766 |
|
Gerry Grogan |
Joint Director of the National Centre |
£40,000 |
|
Norman Wilkinson |
Director of the Information Society Commission (part-time) |
£29,886 |
|
Kevin Whelan |
Historian (part-time) to the 1798 Commemoration Committee |
£10,436 |
How many of the 12 unestablished civil servants were formerly employees of either the Fianna Fáil or Progressive Democrats parties? Will the Taoiseach give us an indication of what their jobs are? I am ignorant of the jobs involved except for one very amiable person who, I understand, is now director of press cuttings. Why is it considered necessary to have a senior person allocated to this task in the current Government?
At least we did not advertise for positions in our magazine.
Most of the individuals concerned had been working with Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats; the details are all set out in the schedule. We are talking about the special adviser on Northern Ireland and the programme managers. There are two programme managers in this Administration — my own and the Tánaiste's — and both are attached to the Department of the Taoiseach. There are also four secretaries carrying out purely clerical duties. The head of the GIS is a civil servant and there are two other people working in the Government Information Services involved in updating that service.
