Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Establishing the economic evaluation service was important. We investigated particular deficiencies in terms of our skill set. By and large - this is a compliment not a criticism - most public servants are generalists but skill sets are becoming more specific and I think we will see an increasing number being recruited on short-term contracts to carry out specific tasks. For example, we have established a new Office of Government Procurement because the way in which we procured €9 billion worth of goods and services across the public service was previously haphazard, without professional procurement inputs. We have centralised human resources management and recruited a number of key professional human resources managers to carry out defined jobs. We established the economic and evaluation service, with 70 economists already recruited to work across most Departments. They are currently receiving training in my Department. That will continue to expand. I do not know what the optimal number will be. I was trained as a trade unionist, and from that perspective the normal answer is "more". However, we do need more than we currently have.

I hope this will improve the capacity not only of the Government but also the Parliament to carry out the sort of evaluation it requires. It will enhance the role of Parliament if people in scarce budgeting circumstances can identify the options available. We can have rows about the options because people will hold different opinions. Similarly in Cabinet, Ministers have different views about their priorities and they seek to reach consensus as best they can.