Question to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Charles Flanagan, TD)
To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the amount spent by his Department on special advisers for each of the past four years; the way this compares to the four years 2007 to 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. – Jerry Buttimer
For WRITTEN ANSWER on Tuesday, 20 January 2015.
REPLY
Payments to special advisors are made in accordance with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform guidelines. The amount spent on special advisors in my Department from 2007-2014 is outlined in the table below:
SPECIAL ADVISORS COSTS 2007-2014
|
Year |
Expenditure |
|
2007 |
€279,438.74 |
|
2008 |
€371,315.60 |
|
2009 |
€439,113.40 |
|
2010 |
€439,113.40 |
|
2011 |
€412,506.54 |
|
2012 |
€523,850.86 |
|
2013 |
€560,315.10 |
|
January-July 2014 |
€610,389.31* |
|
July- December 2014 |
€85,616.05 |
The increase in cost in 2014 arises primarily due to termination payments made to the former special advisors to former Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D.
*The total costs of special advisors to the former Tánaiste in 2014 was €610,389.31. This amount included redundancy payments of €202,644.01.