There are a number of secondment arrangements in my Department whereby officers from my Department are seconded out to other organisations and, similarly, officers from other organisations are seconded into my Department. These secondment arrangements generally operate under the guiding principle that the ‘receiving body’ becomes liable for all salary costs associated with the secondment. Administration of same can be dealt with in two different ways. In some cases, depending on the bodies involved, the secondee joins the payroll of the receiving organisation, or alternatively, the parent organisation continues to pay the secondee but recoups full salary costs from the receiving body.
Table 1 and Table 2 set out secondment arrangements currently in place between my Department and other organisations. Table 1 outlines details of those seconded into my Department and Table 2 outlines those seconded out of my Department.
In all cases the organisation liable for expenditure related to salary costs is that to which the officer is seconded to and for which the secondee provides services and carries out duties for the period of the secondment.
Table 3 sets out secondments from my Department to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). In these cases, staff of my Department are seconded to DFA and posted to the Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels and embassies and missions overseas. In all these cases, my Department remains liable for full salary costs as the officers carry out duties overseas in relation to my Department’s portfolio.
Table 1 – Secondments into my Department:
In these cases, my Department is liable for salary costs as the secondee carries out duties for, and on behalf of, my Department for the duration of the secondment.
|
Number
|
Role / Grade
|
Seconded from
|
|
1
|
Assistant Principal
|
Institute of Public Administration
|
|
1
|
PO Legal Adviser
|
Office of the Attorney General
|
|
1
|
AP Legal Adviser
|
Office of the Attorney General
|
|
3
|
Industrial Relation Officers – Workplace Relations Commission
|
1. Office of the Attorney General
3. Valuation Office
3. Oireachtas
|
|
1
|
Executive Officer
|
Courts Service
|
|
1
|
Executive Officer
|
Department of Agriculture
|
|
1
|
Assistant Principal
|
Department of Social Protection
|
|
1
|
Assistant Principal equivalent
|
IDA Ireland
|
|
1
|
Assistant Principal equivalent
|
Enterprise Ireland
|
Table 2 - Secondments out of my Department:
In these cases, the organisation to which the officer is seconded to, is liable for salary costs as the secondee carries out duties for, and on behalf of, the receiving organisation for the duration of the secondment.
|
Number
|
Role / Grade
|
Seconded to
|
|
1
|
Examiner of Patents
|
Health & Safety Authority
|
|
1
|
Solicitor
|
Health and Safety Authority
|
|
1
|
Higher Executive Officer
|
D/Agriculture
|
|
1
|
County Development Team Officer
|
Donegal Local Enterprise Office
|
|
1
|
Head of Enforcement
|
Irish Auditing & Accounting Supervisory Authority
|
|
1
|
Assistant Principal
|
Ordnance Survey Ireland
|
|
1
|
Assistant Principal
|
Department of Foreign Affairs
|
|
1
|
Assistant Principal
|
D/Environment, Climate and Communications
|
|
1
|
Administrative Officer
|
D/Taoiseach
|
|
1
|
Higher Executive Officer
|
D/Public Expenditure and Reform
|
|
1
|
Clerical Officer
|
National Shared Services Office
|
|
1
|
Executive Officer
|
D/Rural and Community Development
|
|
1
|
Assistant Principal
|
IDA Ireland
|
Table 3 - Secondments to the Department of Foreign Affairs for posting to the Permanent Representation to the EU, Brussels and Embassies and Missions overseas:
In these cases, my Department continues to be liable for salary costs associated with the overseas postings as the officers carry out duties on behalf of my Department’s mandate.
|
Number
|
Role / Grade
|
Seconded to
|
|
6
|
PO Counsellor
|
- Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU, Brussels x 2
- Irish Mission Geneva
- Embassy of Ireland London
- Embassy of Ireland Washington
- Embassy of Ireland Berlin
|
|
5
|
AP attaché
|
- Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU, Brussels x 3
- Embassy of Ireland London
- Embassy of Ireland Beijing
|
|
1
|
Administrative Officer
|
Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU, Brussels
|
|
2
|
Higher Executive Officer
|
- Irish Mission Geneva
- Embassy of Ireland London
|
|
1
|
Clerical Officer
|
Irish Mission Geneva
|
Additionally, there are 4 staff of my Department seconded to the European Commission as seconded national experts (SNEs). In these cases, the sponsoring Member State remains liable for salary costs for each officer. In the case of 3 of these officers, while they remain on the payroll of my Department, their salary costs are reimbursed by the civil service central fund set up to facilitate Ireland’s outreach across Europe. In the case of the fourth officer, 50% of their salary is reimbursed by the central fund (this is a limited fund and services all Government Departments for this purpose). In general, SNEs are seconded for a period of 2 years.
On occasion, officers of my Department are seconded to other Departments across the civil service to work on cross-Governmental priorities and interdepartmental initiatives. Currently there is 1 officer at Clerical Officer level seconded to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and the Gaeltacht for such interdepartmental work.
Finally, there are 6 officers seconded to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), an agency under the remit of my Department. Prior to its establishment as a statutory independent organisation, the CCPC, formerly known as the Competition Authority was an office of my Department and was staffed from my Department’s staffing cohort. While most staff assigned to the Competition Authority at that time have returned to my Department proper, or designated as full-time employees of the CCPC, the status of a small number (six) has yet to be regularised. In all six cases, as the officers seconded to the CCPC carry out duties and provide their services to the CCPC, the CCPC are liable for and pay their full salary costs with no expenditure associated to the Department.
