Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I am not an authority in this regard, but Ministers heard which specific functions the Taoiseach was allocating. The allocation was passed by Government.

While I may be wrong, not every Minister of State gets specific delegation orders approved by the Cabinet. From anecdotal information, those who might not have delegation orders might be given more freedom or have a greater amount of their Ministers' confidence than those with delegation orders. I will try to find out for the Deputies the percentage of people who have delegation orders, but that information is not known yet. The issue will drift for two months or so before the roles have bedded down.

Deputy Bruton asked how Minister of State positions are granted. Some are traditional whereas others are new and cut across different Departments, which seems to be the trend. Issues can run across many Departments and it is necessary to pull them together under a Minister of State who can give them time and energy because Ministers, who can be busy with many matters, will concentrate on the core issues. Pulling the issues and functions together has been beneficial. For example, the integration and innovation functions touch on several Departments.

Ministers of State have influence and power. Ministers may have overall responsibility but the question is whether Ministers of State also have influence and power, whether delegations will be interested in putting their case to them and so on. That is very much the case.

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