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

Is it not a shocking gap in the general administration of Departments and the spending of taxpayers' money that there would not be some sort of arrangement whereby these comparisons can be made? To relate it to the private sector, I might ask another business how much something cost. I might ask if the firm that represented that business was any good and perhaps get a reference.

It would seem to me that there are no cost comparisons made and no references sought, such that people are being employed willy-nilly across the State sector. Another disturbing thing about this is that in cases in respect of which legal firms are employed, the citizen is often beaten up by the fact that the legal firm, supported by the State, would seem to have endless resources. That is a complaint I receive regularly. The citizen, in spite of his or her case, feels hard done by because the powerful seem to get their way. We now find that no cost comparisons or professional opinions relative to the quality of the individuals or companies from which services are sourced are being sought.