John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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429. To ask the Minister for Health the number of economists generally employed by his Department; and within that, the number of health economists employed. [42656/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The establishment of an Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) is a central Government initiative to enhance the capacity of the Civil Service to undertake evaluations of public expenditure, to provide economic analysis, and to improve the analytical resources available in the design and formulation of policy. It is led by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. This Department established an IGEES Unit this year and we currently have two economists employed in the Unit, one of which is a health economist. It is planned to build our IGEES Unit with the engagement of a further two economists early in 2016.