Paul Bradford
Ceist:125 Mr. Bradford asked the Minister for Finance when a pay claim (details supplied) will be finalised; and when the arrears will be agreed to and paid. [29446/01]
Written Answers. - Secretarial Assistants' Pay Scale.
The arrears in question arose from a restructuring of the pay scale for secretarial assistants in the Houses of the Oireachtas. To expedite the payment of the bulk of the arrears, only those relating to basic pay were processed initially. Accordingly, all arrears relating to basic pay were paid in June and September 1998. The calculation of the remaining arrears pertaining only to overtime was delayed because of the restructuring of several other grades, with priority again given to arrears of basic pay and the extensive work involved in changing the payroll system for ten Departments and offices in preparation for the euro.
Calculation of these arrears is very labour-intensive and requires that each person's arrears be calculated individually. Some methods of speeding up the payment of the arrears due on overtime were suggested by my Department to the Houses of the Oireachtas. These methods involved paying approximated amounts, but were not acceptable to the Houses of the Oireachtas. The successful installation of the new euro-compliant payroll systems will allow the payment of these arrears to be pursued as a priority.