Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 November 2022
83. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason that the Government is refusing to publish the salaries paid to the Secretaries General of Government Departments (details supplied). [56782/22]
View answerFor what reason does the Government not publish the salaries paid to the Secretaries General of Government Departments? I note that over recent years we have seen that the pension payments made to former taoisigh and Ministers have not been published.
I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for his question. He may be interested to know that the salary scale of Secretaries General and equivalent grades is a matter of public record and is disclosed in replies to parliamentary questions. Also, circulars detailing the salaries applicable to each civil servant grade, including the Secretary General grade, are published and are publicly available on the circulars page of the Gov.ie website. The most recent circular listing out the salary scales of civil servants, Circular 19/2022, was published on 12 October and includes Secretary General salary scales and notes the amount of the highest rate paid to a Secretary General.
There have been no changes to these disclosure arrangements that would have had the effect of restricting transparency in relation to Secretary General salaries. In fact, the appropriation accounts for 2021 included new additional disclosure requirements in relation to salaries of Accounting Officers. As the Deputy is aware, the legislative basis for the annual appropriation accounts is the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866. In the interests of transparency and accountability, each year my Department considers requirements for more enhanced reporting while also considering any legal constraints on disclosing information. Any extra information disclosed in the accounts is in the form of notes to the accounts. These notes to the accounts aid the reader to better understand the expenditure and receipts for each Government Department and office of Government.
In that regard, in March of this year my Department issued an instruction to all Accounting Officers requesting additional reporting requirements, including the disclosure of the Accounting Officer's gross salary in the appropriation accounts for each of the 45 Vote-holding Departments, offices of Government and other entities. This additional reporting requirement commenced with the 2021 appropriation account. These audited appropriation accounts were published by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General on 30 September 2022.
My Department is considering further enhancing the information in the salary note for this year's appropriation accounts. The enhancements being considered include provision of salary band data as well as further information on the gross remuneration of Accounting Officers. The provision of information in relation to gross remuneration reflects the fact that decisions regarding voluntary deductions from salaries are a personal matter. I will come back to this in my next response.
The general data protection regulation, GDPR, is being used as an outright breach of transparency to the taxpayer. Given that the taxpayer foots the bill, GDPR legislation was never intended to be interpreted to ensure that non-payment to any individual could never be published again. Using GDPR legislation in this manner is very dangerous. Today it could be used to block transparency around payments to former taoisigh and barristers; and tomorrow, if it goes unchallenged, all payments by the State could be beyond the reach of the public. Does this sound like transparency to the Minister?
The specific question raised by the Deputy relates to the salaries paid to Secretaries General across Government Departments. In my initial reply, I outlined that the salary scales and grades of every Secretary General are a matter of public record and are published in a whole range of ways, including through parliamentary questions that are answered here on the record. Information is also provided by way of the appropriation accounts. The specific issue that has been raised by some of the Deputy's colleagues relates to waivers or the gifting of a portion of salary by individuals. That is a personal matter. In respect of what we can publish, we are governed by the rulings of the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner. Following the bringing of a case to the commissioner in respect of the Freedom of Information Acts, the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner has deemed that to be personal information. This governs what we can and cannot publish with regard to net salaries and what somebody may decide, for whatever reason, to give as a portion of their salary. The salary set by the State is a matter of public record, which is officially published.
Why is there a need to hide the information when the taxpayer pays the salaries of these people? Why would the senior civil servants do this and why is the Government allowing it to happen? If everything is above board, why is there a need to hide the information? As the journalist Daniel McConnell recently wrote, "Experience has taught us time and time again, where there are shadows, dodgy things tend to go on." Again, I ask the Minister why there is a need to hide this information when the taxpayer pays the salaries of these officials. In his answer the Minister seems to be dodging the bullet. If nothing is being done wrong there should be no need to hide this information, regardless of where they are actually giving the moneys to. It should be a matter of public record.
I reiterate that the salary associated with each grade of Secretary General is a matter of public record and is published. Information is published in the relevant appropriation accounts. As the Deputy is aware, those accounts are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and come before the Committee of Public Accounts for further scrutiny when the reports become available.
The specific issue, which I am aware has been raised by members of the Committee of Public Accounts, and which the Deputy is touching on this evening, relates to net salary. They want to tease out whether somebody is gifting a proportion of the salary, when they started gifting, when they finished gifting, and so on. We are governed by rulings made by the Information Commissioner.
The Information Commissioner has deemed the issue of the gifting of salary to be personal information and, therefore, not subject to disclosure. The salary the State is liable to pay every Secretary General across government is published and is a matter of public record.
