Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

We should all work together to achieve what is best for our constituents.

MABS is doing a good job and perhaps is necessary. However, we should not get carried away with it. Many agencies — I am not referring to MABS — put on a great show for a Minister if he or she visits, but if one arrives unannounced, one will not be received in the same way. I visited a certain forum associated with community employment schemes with a former Minister and we asked where all the staff were. The person to whom we were talking said they were on outreach. We asked whether we could meet them and the person said he did not know. We asked whether they had a mobile telephone but the person stated he did not know the number. This gives one some idea of what is going on. There were two people in the centre in question drinking mugs of tea. I would prefer to pay them to stay at home and make their own tea.

We should be more careful about how we pick MABS directors and should get them to sign a contract to accept the responsibility attached to their post. This is not the case at present. We should employ the best people. Directors are engaged on a voluntary basis and are picked out of a hat. We should consider addressing this because it is very important.

I am sure the Minister has taken note of the fact that a person should be appointed, without creating an extra layer of bureaucracy, to check on the level of output, input and service. It is very easy to get the wrong picture when one attends a launch. Of course the staff present will tell one the centre is receiving thousands of calls and they will give an example of the kinds of people who attended on the preceding day. They may state they were three hours dealing with one person the day before.

I remember working in the post office when there was an organisational management study to establish what services were required. We used to get other people in other buildings to bombard us with telephone calls when the study was being conducted. I am just making the point that——