Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 29 March 2018
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Department of the Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Office of the Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 4 - Central Statistics Office (Revised)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Revised)
10:00 am
Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I was interested in the consultancy fee breakdown. I was surprised to see a minimal outsourcing of work from the CSO for consultancy services. That points to a high skill set in-house. To answer the Deputy's question, there was a specific challenge in terms of employing statisticians. Even across the board, without mentioning any private sector company - we all know the particular company that would be interested in statisticians - there has been a demand in the private sector for statisticians. Hiring people with the required skill set, that is, statisticians was one of the weaknesses.