The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Cullen, has defended the work of six civil servants in his Department who are assigned to deal with queries from his Waterford constituency.
Cabinet Ministers enjoy the services of more than 65 civil servants paid nearly €2 million each year by the Exchequer to handle queries from their constituents.
However, Mr Cullen has stressed that the six members of his Department covered by the arrangement carry out other work.
"These are civil servants. It isn't that they do purely constituency work. They are handling all kinds of queries coming through the office." He pointed out that it was part of their routine work to handle queries to the Department.
"They are the assigned people in the Department on a day-to-day basis. I wouldn't have any dealings with them at all; they are just dealing with queries constantly. I have 2,500 people on the Department payroll, which they are part of."