John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not know whether those titles were there at that time but she was a central figure in the office. As is the case, Ministers and Ministers of State are appointed and the staff move to the Department and are paid by the Department. It was not a formal decision. It was a question of what was happening in the office, the volume of work in the Department and the constituency, how best we could cover it, and people took up positions. Those who generally took the lead roles were best skilled in running the IT, the office, dealing with problems and liaising between Departments.