Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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211. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to fulfil the commitment in the programme for Government to grant Members of Dáil and Seanad Éireann dedicated resources from within existing budgets for the proper scrutiny of the Estimates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38294/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I am informed by the Oireachtas Commission that it complies with the principles of the 2009 Moratorium on recruitment and no posts falling vacant may be filled or new posts created without the sanction of the Commission. An overall reduction of 11% in staff has been achieved.  The practice since 2009 is to report once annually to the Commission on the number of staff in place and the requirements for the next twelve months.  In March 2014, the Commission approved limited additional resources of eleven posts to support pre-Legislative scrutiny and other reform measures.  Both the Committee Secretariat and the Library and Research function of the Houses of the Oireachtas have had additional resources approved in 2014.

The Oireachtas Library and Research Service provides impartial information and research services to support the work of both Houses of the Oireachtas, its Committees and individual Members in respect of their parliamentary duties.  The Library and Research Service provides support to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform in relation to its biannual engagements with the Fiscal Advisory Council. The Committee Secretariat, in collaboration with the Library and Research Service, is currently developing a model for research relating to the annual estimates process. 

In addition, over the last number of months six policy advisors have been assigned to work with Oireachtas Committees.  These staff, the majority of whom are graduate recruits, have a range of policy responsibilities including providing analysis and research support to Committees to enable them to scrutinise Estimates effectively.