Written Answers
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9 June 2020 Written Answers. The following are questions tabled by Members for written response and the ministerial replies as received on the day from the Departments [unrevised]. 09/06/2020WRB00200Cycle to Work Scheme 09/06/2020WRB003001. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Taoiseach the number of persons that availed of and the costs incurred by his Department regarding the cycle to work scheme since it was intro- duced to date by year and cost in tabular form. [9990/20] 09/06/2020WRB00400The Taoiseach: Since the introduction of the Cycle to Work scheme in January 2009, 100 applications have been made by staff of my Department. There is no discernible cost to my Department’s vote in administering the Cycle to Work scheme, as the bicycles and equipment are paid for by way of salary sacrifice by those acquiring the bicycles. There are minor costs in processing forms and in carrying the up-front costs until such time as those are offset by the gradual deductions from salary. Neither of these is quantifiable. The only material cost of the scheme to the State is the tax relief inherent in the scheme. The total amount sanctioned to date by way of bicycle purchases for staff of my Department is €77,279.69 which is in turn recouped from staff by way of salary deductions. The following table shows the number of applications and the breakdown of amounts sanctioned by year. Request Year Number of Applications Amount Sanctioned 2009 6 €2,923.47 2010 10 €7,887.95 2011 4 €3,184.00 2012 11 €9,266.54 2013 11 €8,290.89 2014 10 €6,571.10 2015 15 €10,677.82 2016 9 €7,874.21 2017 9 €7,013.77 2018 6 €6,053.95 2019 6 €4,637.00 2020 3 €2,898.99 Total 100 €77,279.69 09/06/2020WRB00500Overseas Missions 09/06/2020WRB006002. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his plans to 1 Questions - Written Answers evacuate members of the Defence Forces from the Democratic Republic of the Congo due to the worsening security situation in the region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9651/20] 09/06/2020WRB00700Minister of State at the Department of Defence (Deputy Paul Kehoe): Two Defence Force personnel serving in the MONUSCO mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were due to complete their 6 months deployments in March/mid-April but were extended within the mission by a further month. This then brought them into the period when the UN suspended rotations in all UN missions due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The rotation of these personnel was further extended at mission level by a further three months. As the deployment of the personnel to a sub-Saharan African country had been extended beyond their initial six month deployment, there was a requirement to extract them as soon as possible to allow for a national medical assessment of the officers. The officers in question returned to Ireland on Sunday, 31 May by commercial means, and following a medical assessment, they are currently self-isolating at home for a two week period. New entrants into the mission are currently precluded under UN and MONUSCO mission protocols. The UN has recently advised that transitional measures will apply from July to De- cember 2020 which will include a partial resumption of UN rotations with rigorous quarantine requirements and periodic reviews built into the process. The full impact of Covid 19 on future rotations is currently being examined by my Depart- ment with the Defence Forces. 09/06/2020WRB00800Air Corps 09/06/2020WRB009003. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if a full health and safety audit will be carried out on the entire Air Corps fleet of AW139 helicopters and other craft if deemed necessary in view of a recent safety incident; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9652/20] 09/06/2020WRB01000Minister of State at the Department of Defence (Deputy Paul Kehoe): I am advised by military management that, from initial investigations, they have not deemed it necessary to car- ry out a full health and safety audit on the entire Air Corps fleet of AW139 helicopters or other aircraft in the fleet. A formal investigation into the incident is on-going at present. I understand that this investigation is examining the technical and operational aspects of the incident and will make appropriate recommendations. I will await the outcome of this investigation. Thankfully, there were no casualties on the ground, and no Air Corps personnel were injured in the incident. 09/06/2020WRB01100Overseas Missions 09/06/2020WRB012004. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if members of the Defence Forces replacing those serving on UNIFIL missions by rotation will serve the full length of missions and receive allowable expenses and allowances that would be associated with a full mission on overseas duty in view of his announcement of a return date for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9653/20] 09/06/2020WRB01300Minister of State at the Department of Defence (Deputy Paul Kehoe): As part of its response to the global Covid pandemic, on 5 April, 2020 the United Nations Secretary General directed the suspension of all rotations and leave for military personnel serving in UN missions 2 9 June 2020 until 30 June. The suspension was based on the protection of local communities as well as that of the peacekeepers during the Covid pandemic. On foot of the subsequent efforts of the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces and the Department Foreign Affairs and Trade, a number of rotations of Irish Defence Forces personnel have been successfully concluded. While the rotation of troops to and from UNIFIL, which was to take place mid-May, has been delayed as a result of the UN suspension, Ireland has secured an exemption and approval for a rotation of the full contingent in June, during the UN moratorium. The UN has recently advised that transitional measures will apply in the following six month period, July to December 2020, which will include a partial resumption of rotations with rigor- ous quarantine requirements and periodic reviews built into the process. While the Defence Forces have advised that the duration of the next UNIFIL deployment will be shorter than the normal six months duration, the full impact of Covid 19 on future rotations continues to be examined by my Department with the Defence Forces. As you will appreciate, the health and welfare of Defence Forces personnel serving overseas remains our primary concern at this time. 09/06/2020WRB01400Departmental Staff 09/06/2020WRB015005. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he or his officials had an input into the drafting of the job specification for the recently advertised role of Secretary General of the Department of Defence; the reason the job specification does not stipulate the requirement for experience or qualifications in defence, security, international relations or a related field; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9778/20] 09/06/2020WRB01600Minister of State at the Department of Defence (Deputy Paul Kehoe): As the Deputy may be aware, the running of competitions for Secretaries General is a function of the Top Level Appointments Committee. As the competition is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the requirements as set out the information booklet for the post. The booklet contains a range of factual information in relation to the organisation, which would have been provided by my Department, as is the norm for such competitions. 09/06/2020WRB01700Cycle to Work Scheme 09/06/2020WRB018006. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of persons that availed of and the costs incurred by his Department regarding the cycle to work scheme since it was introduced to date by year and cost in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9980/20] 09/06/2020WRB01900Minister of State at the Department of Defence (Deputy Paul Kehoe): The following table outlines the number of staff in the Department of Defence that availed of the Cycle to Work Scheme since it was introduced in 2009 to date. Year Number of staff that availed of scheme 2009 20 2010 43 2011 44 3 Questions - Written Answers Year Number of staff that availed of scheme 2012 29 2013 19 2014 27 2015 28 2016 15 2017 20 2018 13 2019 16 2020 (to date) 6 Total 280 The Cycle to Work Scheme is implemented under a salary sacrifice arrangement through an employee’s payroll. Under this arrangement my Department funds the purchase of the bicycle and/or safety equipment for the employee who agrees to forego or sacrifice part of his or her salary for over an agreed period in order to cover the cost. In this context there is no cost to my Department to implementing the Scheme. 09/06/2020WRB02000Defence Forces Data 09/06/2020WRB021007. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of members of the Defence Forces that have exited the services by retirement and resignation in each of the years 2017 to 2019 and to date in 2020. [10082/20] 09/06/2020WRB02200Minister of State at the Department of Defence (Deputy Paul Kehoe): The following table outlines the number of Defence Forces discharges in each of the years 2017 to end April 2020. DEFENCE FORCES DISCHARGES Year Total Discharges No.