David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not asking Ms Murphy-Fagan to comment. I am making an observation from my own perspective. I think I am being logical when I say that if this has happened in other European member states, and in fact one newspaper report states: "Government, SSCL and arvato, which is the company that got the contract, are all to blame for shared services centres failing to achieve value for money." So far from achieving savings in Britain, it cost them more and eventually the government privatised them.

The reason that I raise this is that it is a matter for policy makers. Obviously it is a matter for the Minister. I am not going to put Ms Murphy-Fagan in the position to comment on policy. We have come through a number of meetings where services have been outsourced and there is an arm's length between us who hold those who spend taxpayer's money to account and Accounting Officers. The Accounting Officers will tell us that there is a service level agreement.