Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not have that information to hand but will certainly request it for the Deputy. As a former Minister, the Deputy is aware that in situations of urgency provisions are made for single tenders. Given that few issues are more urgent than assisting people in trouble with their mortgages and getting information to them, that was the context in which the Citizens Information Board, CIB, was requested to carry out this work and, because it was asked to do so on an urgent basis, it went with the single tender.

The board of the CIB is the Accounting Officer. I will approach the board and the chief executive in order to get the further information the Deputy requires. I would not have access to, or would not look in detail at every tender and event that happened in the CIB. It has a board, a chief executive and staff. As the Deputy is probably aware, there is a considerable expenditure of public money between the CIB and MABS to provide services for people in terms of information and, especially in the current climate, to provide information on indebtedness.

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