Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was a member of the Committee of Public Accounts in the previous Dáil. The question that always comes up regarding how many consultants are being used is not my question. My question is more related to the value for money aspect of hiring in consultants versus hiring permanent employees within the Department. It is in regard to bringing the expertise in-house in order to tackle the various policy developments and-or questions specific to, in this instance, programme B and some of the other aspects the Minister has touched on, like the various energy schemes and the expertise within some of the State agencies which will be managing policy development and implementation on the Minister's behalf.