Mr. Karl Gardner:

The specialised committee is a meeting of officials. Everyone there is an official. That is the key point. It is not considering the views of the Department of Foreign Affairs based on those of the members here. There is close co-ordination across a variety of issues in those meetings and we also have the usual regular engagement with our Ministers in this regard. This matter, as can be imagined, is also a regular topic of conversation between officials here, in Brussels and in London, across the Department with the Minister, the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Thomas Byrne, and also elsewhere.