Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

As regards the issues last year and whether I was given paper cuttings, rundowns, etc, on what was involved, the answer is "No".

Regarding the Deputy's first question on what they do, there are press officers in all Departments across the Civil Service at various levels and in different units. They naturally have an interest as regards what is going on. The unit deals with press officers from the various Departments on an hourly or two-hourly basis. The unit has no dealings with backbenchers or any other Deputies and its staff are subject to all the conventions of the Civil Service. It factually lists headlines from the news media and goes through the newspapers to get an indication of what is topical. Press officers will pick up on such data. If, for example, there is a story on page 16 of one of the national newspapers, the press officers will follow this up. It is a matter of communicating issues to them early and throughout the day which they will follow up. That is all the unit is doing.

If it is asked to get transcripts or the details of an interview on the radio, it can do this and it is not a cost to the Department concerned. Previously, almost all Departments used half a dozen companies separately, which meant two or three might get the same tapes and scripts. It was a very costly operation. The carrying out of this work by these six relatively junior people saves a great deal of money. My colleagues have given me a note of what was on the last list issued. It includes five items, the hospital consultants talks, the Wellington Quay trial involving the bus driver, a new school teachers' report, the PSNI training college and the Iranian nuclear controversy. Such lists are sent to the Departments and they then have something with which to deal if they have an interest in it. That is what is done. The same applies to the newspapers. In the normal course of a day officials in the press offices of Departments do not listen to the media as they are involved in other jobs and events. This is a facility for them to be aware and to communicate with their sections or their people or to submit responses. It is no more than that. It is a good service. If we were to compare the costs of the work of these officials as against the costs involved in 1997 — I keep referring to such costs — these six civil servants who cover an 18 hour day well more than pay for themselves.

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