CARMEL KEANE,
Sir, - Dr Garret FitzGerald (Opinion, August 24th) raised issues concerning the depth and quality of economic expertise in the Department of Finance. He made a further reference to this issue in your edition of August 31st.
It may be helpful for the information of your readers to set out the position in the Department.
The number of people with third-level qualifications in economics on the staff of the Department currently stands at around 70. Of these, there are 20 serving in the Economic section of our Budget and Economic Division, of whom 11 have qualifications at Masters level or above.
These staff serve at all levels including the AP grade to which Dr FitzGerald refers. There are also many other staff with graduate and post-graduate qualifications in subjects other than economics throughout the Department.
The Department has also in place measures to recruit and train staff with appropriate economic skills. These have been in place for some time. - Yours, etc.,
CARMEL KEANE, Head of Corporate Services Division, Department of Finance, Dublin 2.