Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If I add the allowances I see before me for people serving abroad in 2012, they come to €21.52 million. Dividing that between the 325 people serving abroad at the time to which the allowances were paid, it works out at €66,000 extra per person, which is a considerable amount. It also represents 28% of the expenses element of the Department's budget for staff in 2012. All I am trying to get at is whether we are getting value for money, which is the remit of this committee. We must ask these questions and seek information to be satisfied, as the public watchdog, that we are getting value for money. I appreciate the witness may not have had the time to prepare some of the answers but I am entitled to put my point and get a response. It may well be the case that it would bureaucratically difficult or burdensome to do this kind of stuff, but I am entitled to ask the question without being scoffed at.