Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will clarify. I am putting all the questions I have that relate to the Vote, including the outputs, in my block of time.

I have a couple of points to raise with the Minister on Vote 8, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. There is an increase in the budget for 2015 which appears to relate to the recruitment of some additional staff. In the notes we have, there is a reference to a build-up of arrears of some reports that have not been completed, presumably because of a lack of staff on the reporting side. Could the Minister provide some details on that? Are these special reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General's office that we have not been able to conclude because of the lack of staff on the reporting side? How many people are we sanctioned to take on? I believe it is the region of 15 whole-time equivalents, if I am reading this correctly. Could the Minister provide more detail on the increase in the budget for 2015 around staffing and where the bottleneck is? Will he also outline what has not been achieved because of the reduction in numbers in recent years?