Michael Moynihan
Ceist:2. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Taoiseach the overall number of staff employed in his Department in 2018 compared with 2017. [19096/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 9 May 2018
Ceisteanna (2, 3, 4)
Mary Lou McDonald
Ceist:3. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on staffing levels in his Department. [19723/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Joan Burton
Ceist:4. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach the number of staff employed in his Department in the past 12 months. [20061/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (13 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 4, inclusive, together.
There are currently 207.5 whole-time equivalent staff working in my Department. This compares with 203.5 whole-time equivalent staff on 31 December 2017.
My Department is structured around seven main work areas. The breakdown of posts currently in each of these areas is as follows: 29 posts in the international, EU and Northern Ireland division; 25 posts in the economic division; 27 posts in the Government secretariat, protocol and general division and the parliamentary liaison unit; 16 posts in the social policy and public service reform division; 33 posts in the corporate affairs division; nine posts in the information and records management unit; and 18 posts in the Government Information Service. The latter includes the press office and the strategic communications unit, which is currently in transition to a new arrangement. There has already been a reduction of three staff, or 14%, in this area in recent weeks.
The remainder of posts in my Department include services staff and those in the private offices, constituency offices and internal audit.
My Department uses workforce planning and succession planning to ensure there are sufficient staffing resources in place to deliver the Department's strategic goals.
With the exception of politically appointed staff such as special advisers, staff assignments, appointments and recruitment in my Department are dealt with by the Secretary General and senior management.
Deputy Micheál Martin is speaking on Deputy Michael Moynihan's question.
I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Yesterday, he again refused to acknowledge, let alone answer, some direct questions put to him about major departmental initiatives since he became Taoiseach. Other Members have been accused of filibustering in respect of legislative measures but the record shows that the Taoiseach is filibustering in the context of replying to questions in order to avoid tough topics. However, that is progress from last week, when he just went on the attack to avoid the question.
Can the Taoiseach say why contracts for €2.5 million were signed in opposition to the concrete finding that the strategic communications unit activity should be set by the public, not politicians? In other words, we were told there would be public research and that would inform investment in research. That did not turn out to be the case. Can he confirm that he was not looking for savings in the communications budget of €174 million across the Government because most of that budget had been excluded from the unit's remit? Will he accept that once and for all?
The Taoiseach has been saying for some time that he is to be congratulated for reducing his Department's budget. Can he outline the policy changes that have generated these savings? Are they substantive policy changes or simply variations in the usual annual changes in allocations for tribunals, for example, and for other matters which he does not actually control? Will he outline the transfer of staff back to Iveagh House from the European Union division or has there been such a transfer? What savings are reflected in his budget as a result of that transfer?
Last July, the Taoiseach announced that he was reviewing the work of his Department and that he would make his intentions clear once this review had been completed. What is the status of this review and is it near completion?
The international, EU and Northern Ireland division of the Department of the Taoiseach is the lead section for the Brexit negotiations and for matters pertaining to the North. Can the Taoiseach provide a breakdown of how many staff are assigned to each strand of this work in the division? How many people are assigned to the EU-Brexit responsibility and how many are assigned to work on matters pertaining to the North? Will he also indicate what the division of responsibility is within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in respect of both of these areas?
We touched on issues pertaining to the institutions in the North yesterday and the Taoiseach made some remarks in that regard. I wish to raise a couple of issues with him on foot of what was said. First, Sinn Féin is absolutely committed to getting the institutions back up and running. We have met the Government and the British Government in recent weeks and emphasised that point to both. The fact remains, however, that, after 14 months of negotiation and having reaching a draft agreement or accommodation, the DUP balked at dealing with language rights, marriage equality and implementing agreements on legacy issues. It has, in effect, checked out of power-sharing. This is due to its pact with the Tories, which is now the greatest obstacle to the restoration of the Northern Ireland institutions.
The British Government fails to confront the DUP's anti-rights agenda in order to protect its own narrow interests. The British Government has a responsibility under the Good Friday Agreement to deal with the rights issues at the heart of this political impasse. These issues are not going away and they must be addressed. In that context, it is incumbent on both Governments to convene the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to provide a framework for the resolution of these outstanding issues and for the honouring of agreements. I acknowledge the efforts of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in requesting that this happen. The time for the British Government stalling because of its pact with the DUP is over. It must act.
What conversations has the Taoiseach had with the British Government and the Prime Minister, Mrs. May, in respect of convening the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference? That must happen as a matter of urgency. For all of us who are committed to the re-establishment of power-sharing and the institutions, I need not state the urgency and necessity for the intergovernmental conference to meet without delay.
I call Deputy Brendan Howlin, who is speaking in Deputy Burton's place.
The Leas-Cheann Comhairle will be glad to hear that I will be very brief. I wish to ask just three questions of the Taoiseach, if I may.
The Taoiseach has been hearing a more pessimistic tone coming from me in respect of what is happening with Brexit. For my own information as much as anything, he might indicate with some clarity the structure of the Brexit team. As I understand it, the team is headed up by a very fine public servant from his Department, Mr. John Callinan, who is the sherpa dealing with these matters in Brussels and reporting directly to the Taoiseach. Will he outline the structure of the team under him and tell me how many are in it?
Economics is obviously a strategic part of the work of the Department of the Taoiseach and across all Departments. As far as I can recall, the Taoiseach does not currently have a specific economics adviser. I think he is the first Taoiseach for some time not to have one. Is it his intention to appoint such an adviser? I think it is a position that will become increasingly important.
The entire reform agenda was clearly a matter with which I grappled when in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I do not say this in any way to be critical of the current incumbent but it seems that the merger in political responsibility of the Ministries of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform means, in essence, that the reform agenda has slipped back. That is a mistake. Driving reform on a permanent basis is really important. There are big issues emerging such as, for example, Sláintecare. The latter obviously falls primarily within the remit of the Department of Health. However, the Department of the Taoiseach needs to drive the agenda in order to ensure that matters of this nature are deal with. Is there a component part within his Department in this regard? Is it the economics division or some other part of the strands he has outlined that is seized of and driving a reform agenda to set specific goals across the Government and the public service and to measure accountability?
I again wish to place on the record the fact that I try to answer as many questions as I possibly can in the time allowed. However, I think any reasonable person would agree that it takes longer to answer a question than it does to ask it, so there is a substantial imbalance in the time allowed to ask questions and the time provided to answer them. I must admit that I do not always know the answer to the question, particularly when it comes to issues such as staffing or administration, which, in general, are not dealt with by me but by the Secretary General. However, I do endeavour to provide answers in writing to questions. One of the questions that has come up recently concerns the reduction in staff numbers as a consequence of the winding down of the strategic communications unit. As I have indicated today, three staff have already been reassigned. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the same question Deputy McDonald has just asked about the breakdown within the international section between Northern Ireland, EU, Brexit and international affairs. I gave a detailed breakdown in writing to Deputy Micheál Martin in recent days. I am not sure whether he received the reply yet but, if I remember correctly-----
Yes, I have. The Taoiseach is short three in the EU division.
-----there are approximately ten or 12 in the Northern Ireland section, ten or 12 in the EU section, and a smaller number - six or seven - in the international section.
I explained the €2.5 million in contracts yesterday. There are two streams as to how Government will operate campaigns. There are those that are directed by Government, matters we think people know about such as, for example, Project Ireland 2040. I do not believe it was necessary to carry out a survey as to what people knew about it, particularly before it had been published.
That is what the Taoiseach said would be done originally.
It made sense to proceed with that and other matters, such as Healthy Ireland, another cross-Government campaign to which this Administration is very committed. We do not need a survey to tell us that people need to know more about the benefits of good health or that they would benefit from good health. However, there are areas of information deficits, and part of the citizens' survey, whenever it is carried out, will be to identify where there are such deficits and where people are not aware of Government policies and programmes. If we repeat that survey every six or 12 months, we will be able to assess whether the campaigns are making a difference in increasing public awareness of these policies and programmes.
I am still very much looking for savings in cross-governmental communications. Even though the strategic communications unit is being wound down, the policy objective of seeking savings across spending on communications by Government and its agencies remains. This is, of course, a matter of different circumstances on different occasions. Semi-State agencies, for example, operate very differently from Government Departments and agencies.
Again, I would very much welcome the convening of the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference. I have spoken to Prime Minister May about this, both by telephone and in person. I am making arrangements to meet her in Sofia in Bulgaria next week, if she attends. I do not have confirmation yet as to whether she will be in attendance but convening of the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference is certainly one of the matters I would wish to discuss with her. The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, as the House will be aware, is one of the structures established under the Good Friday Agreement. It provides a mechanism by which the Irish and British Governments may discuss matters relating to the agreement and to Northern Ireland. However, it is wrong to suggest that the intergovernmental conference is a silver bullet. It is not a body that has any authority or executive powers. Merely convening it will not add any further dimension to it that cannot be achieved from a bilateral meeting between the Prime Minister and me, a meeting between the Tánaiste and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland or other meetings that happen all the time. I think to convene in this format would be beneficial but it would be wrong to think that merely convening it will produce a result or an outcome as it does not have decision-making powers.
Regarding my advisers, I do not propose to appoint a specific economic adviser at present. I know the appointment of such an adviser has been the practice in the past, so it may be something I do into the future. However, my best economic adviser is Deputy Donohoe, the person I appointed to the roles of Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. We meet almost every week to discuss-----
The Taoiseach might need a second opinion on occasion.
-----financial matters and the economy.
In the context of the way I structure the work of my advisers, each holds several portfolios. For example, my chief of staff, who is also one of my policy advisers, covers areas involving the economy, finance and infrastructure. It is a case of getting the balance right. The role of the Taoiseach is to drive Government, drive the implementation of the programme for Government, bring Departments together and ensure there is a cross-Government approach to matters. However, one needs to get the balance right between driving Departments and micromanaging them. That can be difficult. I notice that the criticisms being made of me have shifted from my being too presidential and too overbearing and trying to dominate my Ministers a few months ago to now being accused of the opposite, namely, that I am not overbearing and not managing or not second-guessing them enough. I think people will appreciate why it is never quite possible to get this balance exactly right to everyone's satisfaction.