Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the moment the ODCE is an office of my Department. It is very much part of the Civil Service and the Civil Service structure. We believe that becoming an independent agency in its own right will make it easier for the office to hire staff more quickly and hire and retain particular expertise.

Generally, this has been the model. A specialist agency is more equipped to do this, whether it is ComReg, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland or whatever agency we wish to mention. When they have a little more freedom to recruit, they find it easier to recruit. That is particularly the case when it comes to specialist staff who might not fit in the traditional model, involving a principal officer, administrative officer and assistant secretary, that we have in the Civil Service.

The new entity would initially do its recruitment through the Public Appointments Service but that could change. Then there would be more flexibility around contractors as well. For example, it would be possible to bring in someone for a year on a particular case or file, perhaps someone with particular expertise. That can be difficult with the normal Civil Service constraints.

The Senator asked about timing. We would hope to have the Bill through the Houses by the summer recess and then establish the agency, probably, from the first day next year. Notwithstanding that, the work is under way anyway. We are not waiting for the Bill. Additional staff and resources are going in. Those responsible are getting ready and geared up with new information technology systems. We are not waiting for the Bill to be passed to begin that transition. That is well under way.