Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

These matters were dealt by personnel staff in the respective Departments working within the overall guidelines. As I said, the circumstances that were outlined and the particular issue raised by the Deputy have been well articulated, discussed and debated in the House. The rationale for it has been explained in the House, if it is not accepted by some. This is an issue that will be carefully watched in the future to make sure we can avoid any controversy in regard to these matters. However, there is always the question of trying to avoid a situation where, by taking another approach, one might end up not being able to achieve the objective, which was to move the people on in a way which was consistent with the overall requirements of the situation.

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