John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In regard to the employment of people for count centres and so on, the general complaint is that it is all local authority staff who get the job of counting votes and so on.

Of course staff need experience in all these cases but there seems to be little or no attempt to bring in some people who would have the appropriate expertise and who could be part of that process. That is the general complaint. In that context I am keen to find out from all of the returning officers how many were employed from outside rather than from the local authorities, as well as the cost of each count centre for that election. Is it possible to get that information? Does the Department have it?