Mr. John McCarthy:

The Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service, which is run by our colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, is another mechanism that has been a big improvement over the past decade or so. It stems from the Wright report of ten or 15 years ago which identified the need for specialists in many areas including in economics. That is an additional vehicle for us to get people to come in to do economic work in the Department of Finance and also in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. When they come in, they tend to move around Departments so long as they are doing economic work. There are strict criteria there. They are not supposed to be absorbed into the wider bureaucratic system, shall we say. They are supposed to be doing technical economic work and supporting evidence-based decision-making etc. That is another important way that we have been able to get people. We work well with our colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. We sit on interview boards to identify people who have sufficiently strong economic skills to come in and help us.