Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Taoiseach said the Government intended to invite tenders for a press cuttings service. If the Government succeeds in attracting a successful tender for such a service, will that mean the services of the communication unit in his Department will then be dispensed with or will we end up with in a situation where we have the communications unit in his Department, a press office in every other Department and, on top of that, a press cuttings service contracted out somewhere? If the tendering process is concluded, where will the savings be made for the public purse? Will they be made by way of standing down the communications unit or by reductions in staff, perhaps, in the press units of individual Departments?

Is it not the case the days of press cuttings services are over? Why is the Government seeking such a service anyway? Most media have websites and most newspapers have their own electronic editions. If Ministers want to find out what is going on in the world these days, they should not have to be reliant on the press cuttings provided by the communications unit summarising all the various radio and television news and current affairs programmes and, as they are being driven around in their State cars, they could look up any number of sites for breaking news on a Blackberry to find out what is happening in the world and break out of the splendid isolation in which they appear to exist. If they could not do that, it should be possible for their press offices to check out the archives available on radio and newspaper websites to find the article or broadcast to which they need to respond. What purpose does this press cuttings service serve? Press cuttings services are a thing of the past.

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