Mr. Dermot McCarthy:

Well, there's some aspects of policy where the Taoiseach has a direct personal role, in addition to being the chair of Government, and in those areas, for example. in relation to the conduct of international relations at head of Government level, or the conduct of the social partnership process, when that was under his aegis, then one would be making a direct contribution and giving direct advice. In other areas, it would be largely a matter of co-ordinating material coming from other sources. The Department of the Taoiseach isn't an analytical Department. It doesn't have an extensive policy analysis function. It primarily acts to ensure that information from other Departments and agencies is available and presented in the appropriate way.