The vast majority of temporary staff employed by the Department of Foreign Affairs are engaged as Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs), some 50-80 of whom are recruited annually to help alleviate seasonal demand pressures in the Passport Office; and interns. Information regarding the previous public service employment history of such employees, if any, is not readily available. A total of 14 officials known to have been retired public servants were employed during 2010. The total cost of their remuneration was €154,689.93. Of that, €132,924 related to the remuneration for four officials deployed to the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia and the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo.
There are four bodies operating under the aegis of my Department. Three of these are administered directly by my Department and do not have independent budgets. The fourth, the Board of the Ireland-United States Commission for Educational Exchange (known as the Fulbright Commission) is jointly financed by the Irish and US Governments and enjoys autonomy of management and administration, in accordance with the Educational Exchange (Ireland and the United States of America) Act, 1991.