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.