Ms Fiona Tierney:

It actually does not come up. Clients want people who are capable of doing the job. Notwithstanding all that - the Senator can look at it - we have an ageing population in our office. We reduced numbers very significantly during the moratorium. In the past two years, we have had permission to take on some new people. Most of the people who are coming through in appointments from the panels that now exist for Civil Service are quite a bit younger than I am. We would say it brought great energy and new views into the office - different tastes in music and everything else. Having a constant flow of people coming through revitalises and creates energy.