Ms Hilary Murphy-Fagan:

No, except that the scale, scope and requirements as they relate to terms and conditions would not necessarily allow us to do what we do, which is already at a scale of 145,000. Taking on all of the teachers does not make sense. There would be a consolidation of risk. The Department of Education runs and manages the payroll for all of the teachers in the country. My office manages all of the payroll, time and travelling expenses, overtime and allowances for the Civil Service, retired civil servants, the Defence Forces and the Garda. We actually have scope around the various sectors.

The cost to the NSSO for postage during 2019 was €32,000 and the cost to the Department of Justice was €160,000. That relates to the current Garda payroll. The cost exists because it is sitting on a database that needs to be upgraded. We have plans for upgrading it later this year. That will allow it, for the first time, to have the facility to use online payslips. It will eliminate the need for postage.