Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 November 2017
82. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the estimated cost of hiring additional Brexit staff for Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and the local enterprise offices; the cost by grade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50915/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs part of Budget 2017, the Department secured an additional €3 million Pay allocation to help in responding to the challenges and opportunities associated with Brexit.
Enterprise Ireland’s exchequer pay provision this year included an additional €1.7 million to assist the agency in the recruitment of an additional 39 Brexit specific posts to work alongside existing staff within the agency. Of the 39 Brexit-related posts, which includes providing assistance to the Local Enterprise Offices, 34 have been filled to date and 5 are currently under active recruitment. It is anticipated that the remaining posts will be filled by year end. The breakdown by grade of the additional staff recruited so far is as follows:
- Level F x 1
- Level E x 27
- Level D x 5
- Level C x 1
The average annual pay costs of the Level E and F posts combined are €82,700 per post. The average annual pay costs of the Level D and C posts combined are €54,200 per annum. Some of the posts involved are based overseas and the associated salary costs for international posts will vary based on the job market in each particular country.
The full-year pay costs, inclusive of employers' RSI contributions, associated with the 34 staff already recruited would therefore be in the region of €2.64 million. Enterprise Ireland is utilising Own Resource Income to supplement its Pay requirements to cover its overall staffing cohort.
IDA Ireland’s pay budget this year included an additional €750,000 to support the immediate requirement for an additional client-facing posts. These additional staff are supplementing existing IDA staff numbers in the context of the extra workload associated with Brexit and are also assisting the Authority in capitalising on Brexit opportunities that may arise.
Nine additional posts have been filled to date and the annual costs, inclusive of employers' RSI contributions, are broken down as follows:
- 3 x Level E at approximately €72,000 per post.
- 5 x Level D at approximately €45,000 per post.
- 1 x Level C at approximately €26,000.
The full-year pay costs associated with these staff would therefore be in the region of €470,000 per annum.
A further additional €3 million in Pay was secured by the Department in “Budget 2018” for next year to further assist with our Brexit response. Of this Enterprise Ireland is being provided with an additional €1.3 million and IDA Ireland an additional €700,000 to recruit additional Brexit related staff. This should enable the Agencies to recruit a further 25-30 additional staff during 2018. The specific pay allocations for my Department, Offices and Agencies will be finalised and published in the 2018 Revised Estimates Volume during December.
