Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Therefore, it is not a major change.

In terms of staffing levels, there will be six staff in the new unit who will be seconded from other areas of the public service. I do not yet know what the net cost will be, but as soon as I do, I will let the Deputy know. I do not know about the staff being employed at departmental level. The Deputy will have to ask the individual Departments about that matter.

It is very much my view that communications are a virtue. There is a big deficit in communications between the Government and the general public. The public have a right to know what the Government does, how their taxes are being spent and about the programmes under way. We intend to improve that process. A huge amount of money is spent by the Government and agencies on communications. Approximately 750 staff work across Departments and different agencies in communications and public relations in some way, for which, believe it or not, the total budget is €170 million, much of which is valid. It involves Tourism Ireland marketing Ireland abroad and Bord Bia marketing the food industry. It involves advertisements advising people to attend for their BreastCheck examination or receive the influenza vaccine. It is all very good spending, but a certain proportion of it involves different Departments and agencies advertising their own logos and so on. That is exactly the kind of thing I want to change. It has been done in Britain and the Netherlands where the overall cost of government communications across Departments and agencies has been reduced, but in a much better way.

There is huge confusion. Many people do not know whether an agency is part of central government or local government or whether that agency is even a Government body.

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