176. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Finance the estimated full-year cost of recruiting 20 additional tax specialists at assistant principal officer level. [24122/19]

It is estimated that the full year cost of recruiting 20 additional tax specialists at Assistant Principal Officer level would be approximately €2.2 million.

This figure is calculated based on the mid-point of the current Assistant Principal Officer salary scale, which is €74,397 per annum; and in line with guidance on the calculation of staff costs including the estimation of attributable overheads, as outlined in ‘The Public Spending Code: E. Technical References: E-01’, prepared by the Central Expenditure Evaluation Unit of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which can be viewed at the following link: https://publicspendingcode.per.gov.ie/e-01-calculation-of-staff-costs/.