P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

This appointment of extra junior Ministers is a bizarre arrangement. A senior Minister should be responsible for the full ambit of responsibilities within his or her Department. A junior Minister should act within that ambit. From my experience in Dáil Éireann I found that junior Ministers were necessary only in so far as their subordinates are concerned.

To my mind, this constitutes jobs for the boys and girls. Deputy Máire Hoctor has been appointed Minister of State with responsibility for the elderly. She is a reputable Member who has been elected by the people of Tipperary North and is a person who is well able to carry out her duties. However, she is meant to see to the needs of the nation's elderly. What other Member is better qualified to look after the elderly than the Deputy who should be responsible? I refer to the Deputy from Sligo-North Leitrim. To have a proper approach to such Ministers of State, one must appoint them to carry on with responsibilities that overlap with the senior Minister concerned. There is no point in creating additional posts.

When John Bruton as Taoiseach created two additional posts, he incurred vehement protests in this House from all angles. However, at that time he put a man in charge of the islands, namely, the former Deputy, Donal Carey, from Clare. He put his imprint on the offshore islands throughout the jurisdiction. The first time island people received recognition was from John Bruton as Taoiseach and Donal Carey as Minister for State with responsibility for the islands. He gave them a £1 million budget, which constituted the first relief ever secured for the people of the islands. This was a worthy cause.

However, we now have jobs for the boys and girls, to be brought in from the outside and to preside over what I would describe as nonsensical Departments. The time has come for common sense to prevail in this House. Members are either with it or they are not. If they are unable to govern and if Ministers are not responsible for their Departments, why appoint an excessive number of Ministers of State to take care of matters that should be the responsibilities of the respective Ministers?

It is time to let common sense prevail. I appeal to the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Noel Ahern, who knows his business well and knows where the shoe pinches. If Fianna Fáil gets back in again after the next election, its Members will appoint 25, not 20, Ministers of State. Is the sky the limit? Let sanity and common sense prevail.

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