Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

They do not communicate every single headline in every newspaper everyday, only when asked. Before, every Department used outside agencies to get interviews, tapes and cassettes, costing the State a fortune. The unit monitors, keeps the data and does scripts, saving the State a large amount of money. Ten years ago when it was done the old way, we spent nearly as much money as we are spending now. The unit is saving money, but it does not list every single story. It gives information to Secretaries General, assistant principal officers and a range of people. Reporting every single headline would be meaningless.

It handles the main headlines of the day fairly well. I scan the report early every morning and it is a fairly good assessment of news headlines, but it will not go to page 17, 18 or 15 to take up every single heading. It has never done so because that would defeat its purpose.

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