Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to put a number of questions to the witnesses on the issue of staff recruitment. Clearly, a moratorium was introduced on staff recruitment in 2009 by the previous Government. I believe there was a reduction of six staff between that period and 2011 and that at the end of 2011, the headcount was 15. That number now has fallen to just two, a very small number indeed. However, it appears as though the moratorium was breached and Mr. Crawley made reference to this in the documentation he provided to the committee. Four members of staff were provided with contracts of indefinite duration. I assume this arose under a usual set of circumstances whereby an individual who is engaged by an organisation has two or more fixed-term contracts, after which he or she essentially derives additional benefit from that and under law, contracts of indefinite duration are provided. Consequently, in Mr. Crawley's own words, the moratorium was breached. I will read the observation back to him and put it on the record------