Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being a little late. On the Peoplepoint and payroll shared services projects, I am aware there were significant initial costs involved in the setting up of the projects in the first year. I understand from what I have heard across the public service there are set-up costs for projects for the first two years and then they start to save money from year 3 onwards. From where will the savings come? In terms of the way I see the public service operating, people will migrate to this section, millions of euro has been spent on the section and then it will provide savings but there will only be savings if there are fewer staff in another part of the organisation. If something similar was happening in the private sector, and I am not recommending this, there would be fewer staff in the organisation in the long term. From where will the savings come in the line Departments in respect of which services are being shared through this central body, if the numbers continue to remain the same?