Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I often think that the provision of fees for communications services is demonised, particularly by politicians. I very much disagree with that. We have seen the importance of communications over recent months. My difficulty is with the retention of an external company for that service. I would rather see an in-house communications person ensuring that the communications are good. I agree with Deputy MacSharry that that should be about communicating and not accountability. There is a difference. Perhaps, the Comptroller and Auditor General can help us. It looks like the communications contract was initiated prior to the coming into existence of Children's Health Ireland, CHI. The use of the word "completed" confused me. Does it mean the contract ended in 2020 and there has been no contract for 2021?

In regard to the jobs website, the word "management" would imply that there is one or a number of people working on the site on a constant basis. I imagine that if one is advertising jobs on a regular basis that would be required, but, again, I would like to see that work being done in-house where there is greater governance and accountability. I ask Mr. McCarthy to clarify the word "completed" in regard to the contract and the word "management" in regard to the jobs website.