Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 July 2020
10. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of special advisers employed across all Departments, disaggregated by Department; the annual salary of each special adviser; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16861/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraWe hear the triumvirate of taoisigh will have up to 17 special advisers. At the same time, there are reports that the Government plans to cut the Covid-19 payment by €50. Cutbacks do not appear to apply to well-paid Government advisers. Ministers of State will get extra allowances. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, will cost taxpayers an additional €200,000. Will the Minister outline how many special advisers will be employed across all Departments, disaggregated by Department, and the salary of each special adviser?
I thank the Deputy for her question and congratulate her on her appointment and look forward to working with her.
On the commencement of every Dáil, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform issues guidelines setting out the arrangements for the staffing of ministerial offices. The guidelines for the 33rd Dáil currently await Government approval.
Appointments to the position of special adviser are made in accordance with section 11 of the Public Service Management Act 1997 which states that the Government may by order, appoint special advisers to the Minister or Minister of State who is assigned to a Department or to a scheduled office provided that the number of special advisers shall not in the case of a Minister, other than the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste or the leader of a political party registered in the register of political parties, be greater than two, in the case of a Minister of State who regularly attends meetings of the Government be greater than two, and in the case of any other Minster of State be greater than one. All appointments to the position of special adviser require a Government order to be made.
Special advisers to Ministers and Ministers of State who regularly attend Cabinet are to be placed on the principal officer - standard - PPC scale, which is currently €87,325 - €101,114.
Special advisers to Ministers of State are to be placed on the assistant principal officer standard scale, which is currently €67,659 - €78,816. While appointments should normally be on the first point of the scale, Secretaries General have delegated sanction to approve any increment on the scale where they are satisfied that this is justified. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will publish the rates payable on its website.
The above restrictions on salary scale do not apply to special advisers to the Taoiseach or Tánaiste. The individual pay rates will also be published on the website. At this stage, no special advisers have been formally appointed by the Government. This process will start once the guidelines have been approved by Government and details will be published on the website of my Department.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire agus déanaim comhghairdeas leis féin. Tá brón orm ach bhí deacrachtaí anála agam tar éis an cheist a chur.
When Ministers have entire Departments to assist them in their work it seems less than prudent to spend taxpayers' money on costly advice sourced from elsewhere. An Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, is to have a chief of staff, a deputy chief of staff and three special advisers, not to mention an economic adviser. The Fine Gael leader, Deputy Leo Varadkar, is to have an aide-de-camp, despite no longer being the leader of this country, or is he simply the Taoiseach-in-waiting? In addition, he will have five or six advisers. The Green Party leader, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is to have four or five advisers. Given the events of the past week, one of them may be there to wake him up when he falls asleep. This is fast becoming a circus. The Minister said the details will be published online. Can he commit to publishing an updated and ongoing list of special advisers as has been done in the past and can the list include more detail, including whether the advisers are related to the individual receiving the advice?
I thank the Deputy for her follow-on question. There is always transparency as to the persons who have been appointed and the salaries they are paid. We will continue with that transparency. The details will be published in the normal way. That cannot happen until we have adopted a formal Government policy on the appointment of special advisers. A memorandum will be brought to Government shortly to formalise this issue and to get Government approval for this policy. All the details will be published in the normal way and will be open to question and scrutiny. I know from my time in the Opposition that all of those details are available in parliamentary questions and will be published directly on the website of my Department.
The work special advisers do is really valuable. I am a new Minister and have one person working with me at the moment. The amount and volume of work that is coming our way is phenomenal. I was in the office until after 11 o’clock last night working through a range of issues. One needs as much help as one can get. Provided the right people with the right experience, qualifications and calibre are appointed, as a country, it is money well spent and we get a return for that investment.
I agree special advisers add a great amount to the work of a Deputy and, I am sure, even more so to the work of a Minister. We also hear a great deal about responsible Government and fiscal prudence. Yet here, where taxpayers' money is concerned, it seems to the public - people have contacted me - like reckless spending on special advisers. How can we reiterate time and again that we are all in this together when it is quite clear we are not? I have no problem with people having to tighten their belts but the reality is we all have to be wearing the same size trousers at that point. It is very evident that while many people are struggling and many SMEs are starved of capital, there is a select few who live in different reality. Is it fair that at a time when so many people are doing more with less that Ministers continue to have more?
Whatever we do will be fully in accordance with the relevant 1997 legislation. The rates of pay of any adviser appointed will be governed by that. It is principal officer level for Ministers’ special advisers and assistant principal officer level for any special adviser appointed for a Minister of State. The very issues and policies the Deputy has highlighted underline the need for a really good Government, one that is going to invest in the people, is going to underpin the income supports people have and is going to unveil this week a July stimulus package, which is designed to support employment, to support incomes and to help businesses to try to survive what is an incredibly tough economic period. There will be a huge challenge ahead in trying to implement the objectives in the programme for Government at a time when we are in many respects trying to rebuild our country in the context of the fallout from Covid-19. Special advisers have a role to play but the Deputy has made some valid points and we will certainly take them on board.
