Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Thank you Chairman and thank you Mr. McCarthy, you are very welcome. In your opening statement on page 11, you state that:

Collective responsibility requires members of the Government to support decisions once taken. The legitimate exercise of its democratic authority by the Government must be respected by officials.

You were Secretary to the Government and Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach from 2000 to 2011, so you were at the top of the Civil Service for three different Governments and three different Taoisigh. So in that role, if you could just clarify, can you overrule a Taoiseach or Government or act against a Government's wishes?