Mr. Rob Wright:

First, on silos, that observation was not just my personal opinion. It was the opinion of some people - senior managers - in the Department. It was the opinion of John Malone and a number of Secretaries General that were trying to get different views from different parts of the variance. When I arrived I did think about and ask what is different from Canada and why. Ireland now has the current structure that the Minister has implemented - the Government has implemented - for the Departments and it is identical to the Canadian structure except for the treasury function.

However, Ireland is different to Canada. The NTMA has grown very important because it had this capacity, the ambition to expand that capacity and it has been able to deliver the goods on a full range of issues. Right now, it manages Ireland's pension funds. We have a completely separate federal provincial institution that runs the Canada pensions system, invests its wherewithal and earns the returns quite separate from that.

It has a range of other activities. It is more than twice as big as the Department of Finance. One could not just do something as simple as that.

What the Department has now done is entirely appropriate. It has strengthened its relationship with the NTMA and seconded 18 people within the Department from the NTMA. There is scope to do more and as long as they are joined up in this analysis, that is the way it could work. Over time, some of those in the NTMA should stay as permanent financial sector and independent advisers within the Department of Finance.