Dr. Elaine Byrne:

No there has not, and I think we must also remember that Ireland is different to some countries in that we have a very meritoric, in theory, Civil Service and local government system. The Local Appointments Commission and the Civil Service Commission, both established in the early 1920, ensured that the local government positions and Civil Service positions were not politicised, in contrast to America where, when a new President comes in to office, all the civil servants leave. We do not have that system in Ireland. As I outlined in the book in regard to the beef tribunal in particular, certainly there have been senior civil servants who subsequently went to work for the individuals they had been regulating. Therefore, there was this revolving door culture of gamekeepers turned poachers. It is now in some of the agencies in the State managing some of the property assets as well