asked the Minister for the Public Service the reasons that extra staff have not been made available to the Comptroller and Auditor General despite the fact that he suggested in his report for 1982 that extra staff were required, and if he is aware that shortage of staff is prohibiting this important State officer for expediting reports for other years, the action that he proposes to take and if he will make a statement on the entire situation.

As I indicated in response to a previous question, my Department have been in contact with the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General about their staffing position.

While that office, in common with other parts of the Civil Services, have sustained a reduction in staff numbers, they are also losing a significant proportion of their work with the introduction of new arrangements for the audit of the accounts of An Post and Telecom Éireann.

To facilitate the work of the office pending that change, I sanctioned the creation, on a temporary basis, of six supplementary posts.

Can the Minister give the total number of staff available to the Comptroller and Auditor General for 1982, 1983 and 1984? Could he also say how far behind the appraisals are of the annual accounts for the last two years?

I do not have the information in respect of individual years but if the Deputy tables a question in relation to that, I can make the information available to him. The present staff levels appropriate to the office is a total of 91 and I understand that staff are in the process of being recruited.

I regret that the Minister does not have this very important information, as the buck must stop somewhere. There must be accountability for State expenditure through the provision of taxes and there should not be any reduction of staff in this vital area. Many Dáil committees are also short of reporting staff and when officers and executives of State and semi-State bodies come before those committees, there are not sufficient reporters to take factual minutes of evidence which could lead to the salvaging of some companies which are now collapsing.

That matter does not refer to this question.

It is all concerned with the same area.

As the Chair has said, the staffing of Oireachtas committees is a separate matter. The Deputy did not ask for the numbers employed in the Comptroller's office in years gone by and if he had I would have been more than happy to give him that information. It is important to point out that all sections of the Civil Service are bound by the requirements of the embargo. In the case of this office, as I pointed out in an earlier reply the audit of the work of An Post and Telecom Éireann which in comparative staff numbers up to the beginning of this year comprised one half of the Civil Service, that audit work is now completed with the creation of the two new boards which will have the effect of releasing a number of staff from their duties in connection with those audits for other audit purposes. Some months ago, to expedite the completion of the audit of the work of the former Department of Posts and Telegraphs, I sanctioned the recruitment of additional temporary staff for the Auditor's office. However, the Auditor saw fit not to recruit staff. Perhaps the situation is a little more complicated than might have been explained to the Deputy at an earlier meeting of a committee of the House.

Can the Minister assure the House that there will not be any further reduction of staff in this vital area of accountability? Has he any proposals to extend staff available to the Comptroller and Auditor General who has requested this on a number of occasions?

As I have pointed out, the Comptroller is at present in the process of recruiting additional staff which will bring the number to 91. Some of that staff will be freed from existing duties because of the cessation of the audit work in connection with the former Department of Posts and Telegraphs——

That is repetition.

He did not see fit to recruit the temporary staff which had been sanctioned some months ago and there are a number of other options which could be used by the Auditor if he is experiencing particular difficulties. The matter is being monitored and kept under careful observation.