Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I did not take down the Taoiseach's reply verbatim, but I do not imagine it to be very different from his reply on 26 September, which I have before me. In that reply, he stated:

The communications unit works an 18 hour day based on a flexible rota of three working shifts. The unit is staffed by six established civil servants, five of whom are seconded from other Departments.

According to the Taoiseach, the unit's purpose is to furnish "news updates and transcripts which ensure that Departments are kept informed in a fast and efficient manner of any relevant news developments" so that they may "provide a better service to the public". This is different from doing a summary of headlines everyday and sending clippings to the relevant Departments. These questions have been asked in the House a number of times. The justification for the communications unit given to date was that it is a fast and efficient operation that spots something in a newspaper and alerts the relevant Department. Today, we are being told a different story, namely, that the unit's job is to scan headlines, the purpose of which I do not see.

When we ask why the communications unit, which costs almost €400,000 per year, does not alert Departments to significant issues — the Department of Transport's excuse was that it did not see the newspaper story about Aer Lingus and the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney's excuse was that she did not see the newspaper story about the ultrasound review and was relying on HSE officials to tell Members — the Taoiseach's new answer is that such is not the unit's job.

It does not take 18 hours per day and three shifts to read newspaper headlines and e-mail them to Departments. Why is the taxpayer spending €400,000 per year for a unit that is supposed to alert Departments to significant events when it did not alert them to two of the most significant public events in the Government's lifetime because the stories were on inside pages or in small print, which the unit does not read? It is ludicrous. We have always suspected this unit to be for political purposes.

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