Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That does not necessarily mean that civil servants will not find themselves in the centre of a discussion. If one looks at how political controversy can develop, people can gain access to advice, through the freedom of information process, that gets into the public domain, the Minister then says, "I am following the advice that I was given", the advice is then questioned and at that stage civil servants do, it seems to me, end up at the centre of the public issue. Is that good or bad? Is it something that we must go along with as a fact of life?