Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The public servants in question work within the departmental system. It is obvious that they are available to work elsewhere as well. The question of savings does not arise in that sense. The purpose of the service that is being provided by these public servants is to ensure that the work of the Government is portrayed accurately in the national public media so any inaccuracies, misrepresentations or errors are corrected quickly. That is the purpose of the communications unit, which has been in place for some time. The Department is ascertaining whether it is possible to achieve further cost savings by putting in place a viable alternative to the present arrangements.

See this speech in context