Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

They used outside agencies and paid excessive amounts of money for the information. That is what happened and it was a very costly arrangement. In the past, one Department would contact an agency at 9 a.m. to order a tape of a "Morning Ireland" or other radio programme and another Department would contact the agency later to order the same tape. That is what happened and huge bills were received. All Governments did this — I am not saying it was one Government in particular — and it was very costly. Instead of that system, six civil servants now work together and provide information on an 18-hour day basis, which is a cheap service as against the outside arrangement. Now outside agencies are rarely used, except in other areas so it is a relatively cheap service.

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