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.