Mr. Rob Wright:

Thank you. It is an important question. There was not enough contact. There was not enough integrated effort between the two organisations. There was great expertise over there. They were focused, they did good work for the Minister of the day, and they grew into something that is really quite distinct and impressive. However, that was a large body of expertise to lose. It was one of the reasons we were reluctant to see the sectoral analysis unit leave the Department as well. It was affecting the critical mass of trained economists.

At the same time, what I think the previous Secretary General has done, importantly, and the current deputy Secretary General, is ensure a truly integrated effort with that group, which is needed, including complete interchange of staff. Yes, my advice to Secretaries General now would be to use the more effective staffing and other processes of the NTMA, the bank of Ireland and anyone else you can to get the expertise in, but to build stronger partnerships. There is no room for divorce.