99 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the estimated cost of staff in his ministerial offices, such as programme managers, advisers, support staff and other such related costs for 1997; and the comparative figures for 1993 and 1987. [9326/97]

100 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the total number of staff in his ministerial offices and his Ministers' of State offices; if he will give a breakdown of the status of all staff, whether temporary civil servants, permanent or non-established; if he will give comparison figures for the years 1988, 1993, 1995 and 1996; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8905/97]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 100 together.

I have informed the Deputy on a number of occasions that there is no Minister of State in my Department. The Deputy will also be aware that since my Department was established in 1993, the question of its operation before that date does not arise.

The information requested by the Deputy with regard to the numbers and status of staff in my ministerial office was given in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 61 of 13 March, 1997. The same staffing levels prevailed in 1995 and 1996.

In 1993, the year in which my Department was established, there was 15 staff employed in these offices. The number of those apart from permanent established civil servants was provided in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 420 of 10 February 1993. Approximate full year staff costs for that year for unestablished staff were as indicated in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 267 of 8 February, 1994, vol. 438, col. 991 of the Official Report.

The estimated staff costs for these offices for 1997 are, in respect of salaries of unestablished staff, as indicated in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 172 of 25 March, 1997. In this context I would like to correct the reference in that reply to an increase over the figure supplied in response to Parliamentary Question No. 33 of 19 February, 1997, which was intended to read as a reference to an increase over the figure supplied in response to Parliamentary Question No. 83 of 19 December, 1996. The approximate figure for other staff costs of unestablished staff (PRSI) is £12,000. The figure for staff costs for established staff is approximately £170,000, which compares with a full year cost figure for established staff in 1993 of approximately £198,000, i.e. a reduction in established staff costs of approximately £28,000 in 1997 as compared with 1993.