Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the commission officials for attending. I am a new Deputy and I am enjoying the experience. It has been made so much smoother by the experience I have had in my day-to-day work here in the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Oireachtas commission runs a great show. It runs a fantastic operation, whether it is the Parliamentary Budget Office, the Parliamentary questions office or the legal office. This facility is run very well. The commission runs a professional organisation. Its digitisation strategy has been a success to date. The fact I can look at my phone and see when my speaking time is coming up allows us to be more efficient, which should, hopefully, yield better results for the country in time to come.

As with every organisation, nothing is perfect. I will go through a few key issues. I appreciate the assistance of the commission in delving into them. My colleagues Deputies Kenny and Farrelly have hit on the Oireachtas commission broadcast workers very well. I did meet with them as well. In an ideal world it would be a good idea to try to have as much skill and talent as possible in-house. Would there be anything to stop the 35 workers coming together, forming their own entity and trying to procure the work?