Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Another area where there is international participation is the IMF and the European Bank of Reconstruction Development postings. In the EBRD there are three posts - director, alternate director- adviser - and they rotate between Ireland, Denmark and Lithuania. There are three postings in the IMF also and that is part of that international element.

On the transformational budget, the money there is intended to help to develop and implement an IT strategy for the Department.

It needs to procure an IT adviser in that respect and to improve document management and CRM systems, which dovetails with the Deputy's initial request for better documentation management. There is a banking shared services project. There is a governance and policy development business process that includes an optimal legal structure and a secure document management process. In addition, there is the implementation of a general reform programme.

If one adds up all the consultancy provisions in the Estimates it comes to €9 million to implement all the policy developments across the Department but also to defend legal issues and banking and to run the national payments plan steering committee single euro payments area, SEPA, campaign. Some of the very heavy expenditure is legal - legal advice for particular projects for which we do not have the legal expertise within the Department, but also to defend legal challenges. Quite a lot of these items arise from the work of the Department over the past four or five years. We recoup a significant proportion of the amount. Last year, of a total of €3.3 million we recouped in excess of €2 million from the banks in particular. It is not all a net figure. That is the overview. If any supplementary information is required the Deputy should inform us and we will give it to him in writing.