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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Dec 2000

Vol. 527 No. 3

Ceisteanna – Questions. - Departmental Staff.

John Bruton

Ceist:

7 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if he will set out the responsibilities and job descriptions of the advisers and civil servants attached to his private office and the Government Information Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25501/00]

Section 11(1) of the Public Service Management Act, 1997, makes provision for the appointment of special advisers to my office. As provided for in section 11(3) of the Public Service Management Act, the terms and conditions of these appointments are subject to determination by the Minister for Finance. The appointments are subject to the Civil Service Regulations Acts, 1956 to 1996, and any other Act for the time being in force relating to the Civil Service.

Under the requirements of section 19 of the Ethics in Public Office Act, 1995, I am obliged to lay details concerning my political appointees before the House on an annual basis. Deputies will therefore be aware of the arrangements that apply in my office. There are, inevitably, changes in personnel and structure from time to time.

In regard to the appointments I have made of advisers and civil servants attached to my private office and the Government Information Service, the following are the details of these staff who assist me in dealing with the complexities and volume of Government business: Gerry Hickey – programme manager and special adviser; Martin Mansergh – special adviser on Northern Ireland, economic and social affairs; Gerard Howlin – special adviser; Una Claffey – political adviser. Peter MacDonagh, who works in my Department, is the social policy adviser to the Cabinet sub-committee on social inclusion. He also works with the Ministers for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Health and Children and the relevant Ministers of State.

Katherine Bulbulia is programme manager and special adviser to the Tánaiste but is based in my office. John Murray, deputy Government press secretary and head of the Government Information Services has recently tendered his resignation for personal reasons. Elizabeth Cogan is assistant to John Murray.

The civil servants in my private office are Barbara Jones, who is involved in script writing and other duties, Olive Melvin, personal secretary, my private secretary – assistant principal, two assistant private secretaries – administrative officer and higher executive officer grades – and nine clerical officers. They provide the necessary support services to me in respect of my Dáil and Government responsibilities as well as maintaining my diary, processing correspondence and the general clerical services associated with a private office.

The Government press secretary is Joe Lennon, a civil servant on secondment from the Department of Finance. There are currently five civil servants in the Government press service and a further six in the communications unit. The Government press service provides the necessary support services to the Government press secretary and the deputy Government press secretary in respect of their role in providing an effective and co-ordinated media service. The communications unit provides a comprehensive information service to Government Ministers and their Departments on Government policy initiatives and developments, and alerts them to any problems which may arise in relation to their implementation. In this way Departments are able to provide a better service to the public.

Will the Taoiseach explain the difference between the functions of the special adviser and the political adviser?

The only political adviser is Una Claffey who is working directly to myself. That is the title I have appointed her on and the only real difference is that she is working for and answering directly to me.

Is the Taoiseach suggesting that the programme manager, the special adviser on Northern Ireland and the other three people do not work directly to him?

They do but they are also involved in many other aspects of work where they would not answer to me on a day to day basis. Una Claffey is working in conjunction with Ministers and Minister of States in their Departments on matters of strategic importance and on that political basis is answering directly to me. A number of my other colleagues are involved in co-ordination work and would not refer to me on every issue.

I do not know if anyone else understood what the Taoiseach said but I cannot make much sense of it. Are the salary levels of the people concerned fixed and what are they?

They are. The only one not in the public domain is Una Claffey's. Her contract is not yet signed by the Department of Finance but the salary basis would be about £70,000. All the others were detailed in a reply to a parliamentary question two weeks ago.

Will the Taoiseach indicate the difference in salary between the special adviser and the political adviser? Are they on the same or different salary scales and how are these jobs evaluated with regard to salary? The jobs sound the same to me but the Taoiseach obviously has a distinction in mind.

Deputy Bruton knows that most of these salaries are based on what somebody already received. There are fixed guidelines within the Department of Finance so one can give an adviser only a percentage of their previous salary. With regard to my office, the programme manager, Gerry Hickey, receives the highest salary, substantially more than the others, and Martin Mansergh receives the second highest.

Do those constraints in regard to previous income apply to the political advisers as well as to the special advisers?

Yes, they apply to all staff.

I have three brief related questions. Does the Taoiseach agree that the one area in which he probably does not need advice is politics? Second, will he indicate whether there is a fixed percentage above which payment can be made to an adviser over the existing salary before he or she became an adviser and what is that percentage? Has the Taoiseach had a chance to reflect further on the programme manager system? Certainly, it has not saved money since the consultancy rates of all the Ministers have increased – that of the Minister sitting beside the Taoiseach has increased considerably over previous consultants' rates. Will the Taoiseach consider again going back to the programme manager system as a more efficient way of delivering good government?

There is a percentage for an individual taking up any of the posts from outside the public service or even where a public servant comes to work for a Minister. They are set down in regulations of some years ago. One is allowed take one's full package and what would be one's salary, overtime and special allowances, such as travel allowance, and one can get a figure on top of that package of about 10%.

For clarity, the political adviser is on about 10% above the previous package?

Yes, of what one's full package would be. When one loses one's package, one can lose one's salary and remuneration, whether it is benefit in kind or whatever, and that is what creates the conflict.

The argument between the Deputy and me on the programme managers only concerns the numbers involved. As I said here many times, their existence is not the issue. The Government has taken the view that the ratio is about 50:30 – in terms of the people contracted by the Governments of which the Deputy and I were part, there were more than 50 in one Government as against 30 in the other. It is not that it was not a useful system, it was the number that was the issue.

How does the salary of a political adviser compare with the salary of Members of the Dáil? The Taoiseach has a number of political advisers in his party who probably have an amount of experience in politics – he has six sitting behind him, all of whom are paid less than the political adviser in his Department. Does the Taoiseach consider that, for example, the Minister, Deputy Brennan's advice is worth less than other advice he can purchase from outside?

Why has he gone green with envy?

I would probably take the Minister, Deputy Brennan's advice of a political or other nature before I would take anybody else's advice because he is a very good adviser.

That is why the Taoiseach promoted him.

There is one of them who would not qualify anyway.

The reason I asked him to stay in his job was probably that his advice was so good. Compared to special advisers, political advisers or the consultants who advised Governments over the years, politicians themselves are totally underpaid. That is my view, I have said it before and I will say it again.

You are in charge of this country.

I am working on it.

(Interruptions.)

Deputy Higgins has the floor.

(Dublin West): Is the Taoiseach so absolutely desperate for political advice that he is prepared to pay £70,000 a year from taxpayers' funds for it? Since the Taoiseach insists on benchmarking and performance-related pay for teachers, is there a benchmarking system here to assess the quality of the political advice he is getting and do the results depend on the performance of the Taoiseach? If the Taoiseach messes up in future political crises, will there be a clawback of some of the £70,000?

That concludes Taoiseach's questions. We now come to Priority Questions.

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