Brendan Howlin
Ceist:3. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the Revised Estimate for his Department. [20129/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 22 May 2018
Ceisteanna (3, 4, 5)
Mary Lou McDonald
Ceist:4. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the Revised Estimate for his Department. [20958/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Joan Burton
Ceist:5. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the Revised Estimate for his Department. [21114/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (10 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 5, inclusive, together.
At the end of April, a further Revised Estimate for my Department was voted through the House. This further Revised Estimate reduced my Department's 2018 net budget allocation by €2.5 million, from €35.89 million to €33.39 million. My Department's original Revised Estimate showed a net reduction of 2% on 2017. This further Revised Estimate brings the total reduction to 9%, or €3.3 million year on year. The budget reduction followed the decision by the Government to wind down the strategic communications unit on foot of a comprehensive review of the operation of the unit, which was completed by the Secretary General to the Government.
The primary role of my Department is to support me in my executive functions as Taoiseach, to support the Government and to oversee implementation of the programme for Government. It also supports the four Ministers of State assigned to the Department: the Government Chief Whip; the Minister of State with responsibility for defence; the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs; and the Minister of State with responsibility for data protection, who is also assigned to a number of other Departments.
An important part of my Department’s work is providing a secretariat for meetings of the Government and of Cabinet committees. The scope of the committees encompasses the Government’s national priorities and the challenges Ireland faces in the coming years. Cabinet committees A and D address issues relating to economic policy, infrastructure, regional and rural affairs and climate action priorities. These committees provide a focus for advancing Project Ireland 2040 that will sustain and enhance economic growth. The work of Cabinet committee B - social policy and public services - and Cabinet committee E - health - deal with social policy, particularly in the areas of education and health, as well as the public service reform programme. Cabinet committee C deals with EU matters, including playing a significant role in ensuring a co-ordinated approach to all issues arising from the UK decision to leave the European Union. Cabinet committees F and G deal with the issues of national security, justice and equality, including providing a focus for a significant programme of reform for policing in Ireland.
My Department also has a number of other responsibilities, such as State protocol, including commemorations; constitutional issues; relations with the Office of the President; relations with the Oireachtas; the Government Information Service; the National Economic and Social Council; the Creative Ireland programme; the Citizens' Assembly; and the Dublin North East Inner City initiative. In addition, my Department funds a number of inquiries from its Vote, including the Moriarty tribunal, the Cregan commission and the Cooke commission.
My Department's 2018 budget is divided between administration and programme expenditure. The 2018 administration budget for my Department amounts to €22.39 million and is broken down as follows:
|
Pay |
€15.1 million |
|
Travel and Subsistence |
€730,000 |
|
Training and Development and Incidental Expenses |
€4.46 million |
|
Postal and Telecommunications |
€360,000 |
|
Office Equipment and External IT Services |
€1.41 million |
|
Office Premises Expenses |
€316,000 |
|
Consultancy Services and Value for Money Policy Reviews |
€18,000 |
The 2018 programme budget for my Department amounts to €11.87 million and is broken down as follows:
|
National Economic and Social Council |
€2.05 million |
|
Tribunals of Inquiry |
€4.5 million |
|
Commissions of Investigation |
€4.7 million |
|
Citizens' Assembly |
€609,000 |
My Department has also budgeted for appropriations-in-aid of €872,000 in 2018.
It is a good job that not all Deputies are present or the Taoiseach would be asked for his biscuit allocation for the year. I note that the revised voted funding allocation to the strategic communications unit, SCU, for this year has been reduced by €2.5 million to a sum of €2.25 million. I understand that €2.2 million of that sum had already been spent. Is there no money left for a residual communications unit? I understood that it would carry on in some shape or form but there is no budget allocation balancing for any of it. Is that what the Taoiseach is telling us?
What is the status of the proposed market research that we have asked about on a couple of occasions? The Taoiseach's previous reply was that he would continue with that but only after consultation with party leaders in the House. Is that continuing and when will it take place? This is the third time I have asked this during Questions to the Taoiseach.
When does the Taoiseach expect the new national digital strategy to be published? That is an extremely important issue and it is timely that we debate it. The Taoiseach said in his statement to the Oireachtas Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Reform and Taoiseach that the successful organisation of the forthcoming papal visit is a significant objective of his Department. As the papal visit approaches, what specifically will the Department do to support the visit in terms of money, resources and how does he see that panning out?
The budget for the Department of the Taoiseach is revised downwards from €35.891 million to €33.391 million, a 9% reduction. Only when we consider the bigger figures do we fully realise the significance of the €5 million SCU figure. That would have represented something like 15% of the Estimate for the Department, so the Taoiseach obviously attached very considerable weight to that initiative.
When we have asked about the unit, its disbandment and the report spearheaded by the Secretary General of the Department, each of us in turn has asked about the market research. The Taoiseach said there would be consultation with Opposition parties. That has not happened. Can he make clear for us today what is the status of that market research, what form the consultation with other parties will take and when that will happen?
What is the status of the development of the brand "The Government of Ireland" to which a great deal of money was allocated in the previous communications programme? How is it attached to the activities of the Government? I hear on broadcast media regular advertisements for a consultation or an event, involving, for example, people who have been in mother and baby homes and asking them to register for such a meeting. The branding for that is not, as one might have thought, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. It is the Government of Ireland. Who is paying for that advertising? Is it coming out of the money already allocated to the Department of the Taoiseach or is it from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs although under the brand of the Government of Ireland? It is important for people when public announcements are made at some cost to be able to follow who exactly is inviting them to what. It seems the Government of Ireland is inviting them to something but it is not very specific.
I welcome the reduction in respect of the SCU because what was going on there was wrong and its parent was the Creative Ireland initiative. Through freedom of information, FOI, requests we came across evidence that the then Minister was making decisions as to which newspaper would be allocated what. The Minister made a decision on the allocation of public moneys to newspapers. I have the response to the FOI request and can show it to the Taoiseach. That is a dangerous precedent and one that is open to abuse. For that reason I welcome what has transpired.
The market research was originally identified by the Taoiseach as a basis for the decisions that the SCU would take, to follow what the public had identified, through the market research, as areas where Departments were deficient in communicating with it. However, €2.2 million was spent well in advance of any research being done based on the political objectives and priorities of the Government, not on the market research. I look forward to a meeting to discuss this market research which we have heard about for a year. Perhaps on the anniversary of the market research we might get a consultation.
There is probably only a few hundred thousand left of the original allocation to the SCU apart from what has been allocated or committed already. Deputy Howlin is right to identify that point. The budget was originally to be €5 million but it has been cut in half because the unit is being wound down and will cease to exist in approximately two months' time.
Behaviour and Attitudes already has the contract for the citizens' survey but it has been delayed for quite some time. It has not been a priority with all the other things that are going on. I was consulted on the questions for the first time this week.
What is the point of coming to us then?
It is now intended to consult the other party leaders on those questions in the next few weeks.
The contract has been awarded to Behaviour and Attitudes.
It is a survey that is designed to assess citizens' awareness of Departments and agencies, and what they do, their satisfaction with them and what improvements they would like to see. I look forward to the input of party leaders in suggesting additional questions or amending some of the questions. The outcome will be published for everyone to see. It will be repeated over time to see if there has been a change in public perceptions of Government agencies and bodies and so on.
The Department's main involvement in the papal visit will involve the protocol section, which has a specific role in welcoming visiting Heads of State and of Government. The Pope is a visiting Head of State and will be accorded the same courtesy, honours and respect of any visiting Head of State. The protocol section is very involved in helping to coordinate the Government’s response to the visit. It is also proposed that there will be an event in Dublin Castle which will be the main Government aspect of the visit which is principally a pastoral one and it is important to bear that in mind.
The major cost will relate to security and matters such as Garda overtime. That will fall to the Department of Justice and Equality Vote rather than the Department of the Taoiseach Vote.
The Government of Ireland identity or brand is being retained. Among the objectives of the SCU when it was first established was to move away from a Government which is fragmented with many Departments and agencies with their own logos and websites and competing identities and very often competing communications budgets towards something streamlined.
The Government of Ireland identity remains in place, as does the basic harp logo with the green background. That will apply to any Government policy, programme or initiative that is being promoted or communicated. To the best of my knowledge, the mother and baby home consultation advertising is being paid for by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. That is going to be the case in the future. There will not be significant communications or advertising budgets in the Department of the Taoiseach. Spending will be done by line Departments and agencies. The co-ordinating role in the Government Information Service, GIS, however, will remain.