Mr. Joseph Nugent:

There are a couple of issues. The number of permanent ICT staff that were approved and available within An Garda Síochána is way below that available in other similarly sized organisations. As a result of issues associated with getting approval to bring on board permanent head-count, the organisation has been excessively reliant on contractors. In that regard I have said that I absolutely agree that the over-reliance on a single provider must change. To ensure there was the best opportunity for competitive processes, Mr. Kidd brought on board a specialist company to assist him in the development of tender documents that would provide us with the best opportunity to get other companies in. That process is running and we have seen the benefit of that through the procurement process we have run to date.