Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Ministers of State are appointed by the Government to assist Ministers in running Departments. In many instances this relates to policy issues. Formal delegations or statutory powers are not necessary. Only a small number of Departments have functional blocks where the full function must be designated. A Minister of State may be required to exercise a power set in statute. That is the case in my Department in respect of the functions of the Statistics Act 1993, which are exercised by the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt. The Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, carries out a wide range of policy and administrative functions in my Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs but no formal or statutory power is required.

I was not aware of the Irish language meeting. It did not receive much publicity.

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