Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:10. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach the number of special advisers allocated to him; and the cost of each of these advisers in terms of salary, expenses and so on. [28550/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 7 October 2020
Ceisteanna (10)
Freagraí ó Béal (5 píosaí cainte)
The requirement for specialist policy input and advice is a matter for each individual Minister to consider having regard to the area of responsibility and the support in place in the relevant Departments. I have put in place a range of appropriate advisory supports to support me in my role as Taoiseach and Head of Government. At present there are six special advisers working in my private office.
These staffing levels are in line with the instructions of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on ministerial appointments for the 33rd Dáil.
The make-up of my team consists of a chief of staff at deputy secretary level, a deputy chief of staff at assistant secretary level, a part-time economic adviser at assistant secretary level and three special advisers at principal officer level. It should be noted that all of these appointments are subject to Government approval over the coming weeks, following which relevant contracts, including salary scales, statements of qualifications and statements of relationship, will be laid before the Oireachtas.
The special advisers working in my office provide briefings and advice on a wide range of policy matters as well as performing other functions as I may direct from time to time. They liaise with other special advisers in Departments so I remain informed of developments across Government. In addition, they monitor, facilitate and help ensure delivery of the Government's ambitious work programme and commitments set out in the programme for Government.
As outlined in the programme for Government, a number of reforms have been implemented to ensure openness and constructive co-operation within Government. These include the establishment of an office of the Tánaiste and an office of the leader of the Green Party within the Department of the Taoiseach located in Government Buildings. The special advisers assigned to me will also work closely with their counterparts to ensure cohesion and good communication across the Government partners.
Where expenses are incurred by staff in the performance of duties relating to their brief the Department pays mileage and travel and subsistence at normal Civil Service rates.
People elected the Taoiseach, Deputies, including me, and Ministers to this House. Of course, Ministers, Taoisigh and Cabinet members have significant additional responsibilities but they also have a huge number of public servants and civil servants around them. To have on top of this an extensive layer of multiple highly-paid advisers raises questions in ordinary people's minds, particularly at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are on their knees economically and financially, having lost their jobs and had their pandemic unemployment payments cut. We then have this extensive layer of multiple advisers, who some might say do not seem to be giving great advice at present. If we take the Tánaiste's outbursts at the public health team, one wonders whether it was a result of very expensive advice. It is just jobs for the boys and largesse for those who get the prize of power, which is being paid for by the public and really is doing nothing for ordinary people. That is the perception out there. Does the Taoiseach not recognise that this is the case?
Frankly, even from the Taoiseach's point of view, these advisers often do more to confuse than assist in the business of government. The Taoiseach might do better to listen to members of the public and ordinary people outside the bubble of Leinster House advisers and Ministers, rather than paying extortionate salaries to a bloated layer of advisers.
When the announcement was made about the appointment of additional special advisers for the Ministers of State there was something of a public outcry, not because people do not understand why Governments and Ministers need good advice but because the Government was, at the same time, moving to cut the pandemic unemployment payment. It did not recalibrate the payment but cut it. I want to place on the record, as per figures from the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleague, that those who will be in receipt of the reduced €300 pandemic unemployment payment on average earned €568 prior to the pandemic and the circumstances in which they could no longer go to work. That is an awful kick in the teeth and it is not sustainable. I remind the Taoiseach that MABS has forecast what it has described as a tsunami of household and domestic debt. We are facing into huge difficulties. The cut the Government has made will have a real price.
Will the Taoiseach explain how this unholy trinity of Government - the Taoiseach, An Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party, the Minister, Deputy Ryan - works? He speaks a lot about collaboration and co-ordination. How does it work in practice? Will the Taoiseach explain this to us?
With regard to special advisers and the special relationship between the three political leaders at the heart of government, all three individuals knew about the upcoming issue in the leaving certificate a week before it was announced by the Minister for Education and Skills. This information was not shared with the Cabinet. I am quite sure the special advisers attached to the Taoiseach's office knew. While the three party leaders knew, the entirety of the Cabinet did not know. Does the Taoiseach not think the Labour Party's recommendation of having an independent investigation into the entirety of the leaving certificate, including the involvement of the Taoiseach and his advisers, would ensure that we do not have a repeat of the debacle for the leaving certificate class of 2021?
To respond to Deputy Boyd Barrett, the Department of An Taoiseach is not a huge Department in terms of numbers given the range of co-ordinating work it does across so many other Departments. There is a bit of a myth about this. The Deputy made comments about this earlier.
The public service works extremely well and has worked particularly well during Covid-19. Many senior civil servants across the board have worked night and day and at weekends to cope with what has been an unprecedented challenge in many Departments. Advisers are important. The whole concept of what were then called programme managers was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with a view to having a clear and strong relationship where there is a coalition Government to get the programme for Government implemented. Political parties are elected on a programme of policies. There was a view prior to that period that many elements of political programmes did not get implemented as strongly or effectively as they could have. The Labour Party, and I mean this in a complimentary way, came up with the innovation of working with public servants. Public servants appreciate the work of advisers in prioritising political objectives as manifested in a programme for Government. The implementation of these priorities requires constant work and follow-through. This is important because government is not a technocratic exercise and it was never meant to be a technocratic exercise.
The idea of political advisers is not heresy. It is not about jobs for the boys. The Deputy is helping to create that perception by constantly saying that. I have no doubt that if Deputy Boyd Barrett were in government, he would want people who are ideologically close to his position helping and assisting him in making sure his ideological position on a range of issues was followed through and that people would have a clear understanding of what his priorities were. That is the purpose and objective of having special advisers. Everybody is working extremely hard, be they in an advisory capacity or in a Civil Service or public service capacity.
Deputy McDonald is no stranger to policy advisers either and Sinn Féin uses special advisers and has used them repeatedly in the Northern Ireland Executive. Former elected representatives are now advisers in the Northern Executive. This system has been in use in the North for some time. They had a critical role in the recent inquiry into the renewable heat energy project and they were central to all of that.
I do not think people should be feigning surprise about the use of advisers. In the previous Government with Independents, there were again advisers representing Independent Ministers and Fine Gael.
There is a Cabinet co-ordination committee at which the three leaders meet in advance of the Cabinet meeting. It works to ensure that Cabinet agenda items are dealt with if there are items with which a political party might have an issue because of its beliefs and ideas. It works to ensure those issues get properly thrashed out and dealt with. The various chiefs of staff in each party meet regularly to make sure there is agreement on issues where there may be competing views and beliefs. It is only natural in a three-party coalition Government that there will be parties who have stronger emphasis in some policy areas as opposed to others and vice versa. There actually is a need to work through various issues that arise from time to time. In the current climate with Covid-19, they arise frequently across the board in all sectors and Departments, requiring constant attention.
Regarding the leaving certificate issue, the overarching priority of the Government, the Minister for Education and Skills, the Tánaiste, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, along with the Minister, Deputy Harris, was the students. It was important that the full details of the issue around the code was ascertained, its implications, scale, volume and how it would apply. That was important rather than going half-cocked earlier publicly.
The Minister for Education and Skills handled this in the correct manner and dealt with it comprehensively. Obviously, the decision to have calculated grades arose from the decision not to have leaving certificate examinations because of the impact of Covid-19. That is why next year the Department's objective is to have the normal leaving certificate examinations back. Work is under way already to get to that situation. No one really wants to be in the position we were this year with a calculated grade system and the cancellation of the exams. It has been very challenging for this year's leaving certificate cohort because of all that has transpired. We are working in the best interests of the students concerned.