Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. It is fair to say that Mr. Watt is responsible not only for the Civil Service but for the wider public service. His Department deals with public expenditure and reform in local authorities, the teaching profession, universities, An Garda and the HSE. The role of the Department is to cover public expenditure. Everything that the State spends should come under the remit of his Department. Setting up a separate Department with a separate ministerial position, so that finance became two briefs rather than one was a bit of a fudge. The same Minister now covers both Departments. Mr. Watt probably cannot give an opinion on this. There is a lot of work involved in being the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. They are quite significant Departments, as he acknowledged. Should one person be dealing with both of them, or should there be two different individuals doing the two jobs?