Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I am still of the view that it is odd to include this provision in legislation. I assume Departments, on an ongoing basis, hire people for specific purposes and for short periods for advice on specific legislation. I do not understand the reason it must be written into the legislation. One would expect actuarial advice to be available to the Department. Such advice has probably been sought in this complex area in the past. Did the Minister of State indicate that provision was made in previous legislation to appoint a special adviser to provide actuarial advice in this area or that Ministers had used actuaries previously?