Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I second the amendment. The appointment of advisers and money spent on writing or publicising reports are issues that have exercised the media. This in itself is not a sufficient reason for us to get too worked up about them but we should note that the public is naturally concerned about them because the money being spent is taxpayers' money. I have no difficulty with Ministers commissioning reports — this is an important function — but they sometimes do so to excess. Reports are fine as initial components of specific action plans, which in turn result in decisions being made. One would expect that a Minister would consider a matter by way of commissioning a report before drawing up an action plan.

The former Minister seems to have been a past master at producing reports and setting up sub-committees to produce them. While the public is in favour of consultation and notes that it is very important to avail of existing and newly emerging expertise, it must be asked how much is being spent on this process. Amendment No. 3 is useful in this regard. It may be possible to obtain the required information through parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests but, considering the size of the executive's budget and the restrictions on freedom of information imposed by legislation, it is all the more important to accept the amendment.