Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I have three questions and may avail of the opportunity to come in later. Will the Minister explain the interplay between himself and the Secretary General? It sounds and reads as if this is something that they brought forward together. I ask the Minister to elaborate and comment on that. What other units of the Minister's Department or entities other than the Secretary General were involved in assessing the role being offered to the former Minister, Dr. Zappone, and were they positive on it? Last week, I was the first on the committee to raise with the Minister the possibility of this committee being initially involved in a shortlisting process for future, similar appointments. Time was an issue then but please God the Minister can answer the question now. Will the Minister comment and give his view on this and can he give members a commitment in that area? I think we could do important scrutinising work.