Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her follow-on question. There is always transparency as to the persons who have been appointed and the salaries they are paid. We will continue with that transparency. The details will be published in the normal way. That cannot happen until we have adopted a formal Government policy on the appointment of special advisers. A memorandum will be brought to Government shortly to formalise this issue and to get Government approval for this policy. All the details will be published in the normal way and will be open to question and scrutiny. I know from my time in the Opposition that of all of those details are available in parliamentary questions and will be published directly on the website of my Department.

The work special advisers do is really valuable. I am a new Minister and have one person working with me at the moment. The amount and volume of work that is coming our way is phenomenal. I was in the office until after 11 o’clock last night working through a range of issues. One needs as much help as one can get. Provided the right people with the right experience, qualifications and calibre are appointed, as a country, it is money well spent and we get a return for that investment.

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