Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As the Ceann Comhairle said, these are matters for Cabinet alone. To be helpful to the Deputy, the particular Cabinet committee he mentioned meets as necessary and will continue to do so. New institutional structures are in place, such as the integrated offices for children, older persons, and mental health and disability. It means these crosscutting responsibilities are enabling Ministers of State in those offices to do the work that normally in the past would have been left to a Cabinet committee to consider at a time when all these responsibilities were strictly departmental rather than interdepartmental. We can consider what has been happening in the areas of disability and mental health, drugs strategy and how it is interacting with the provision of local services, and children, with the Office of the Minister for Children. It has proven to be a successful innovation in developing a greater degree of cross-departmental and buy-in as one considers how to deal with issues that affect these subjects far more holistically than was the case in the past when various Departments had varying responsibilities in respect of a category of people.

It lines up with the social partnership agreement where we consider the lifecycle approach and try to being together a policy on children, young working families, disabilities and the elderly. If one likes, we have given expression departmentally to that lifecycle approach. In my experience and in my attendance in whatever capacity since they were instigated, I find it a far better and more worthwhile means of trying to pull together whatever are the policy issues and how one can seek developments in various areas in the most cost-efficient way possible. For that reason the requirement of a Cabinet committee agenda arising in that particular area has been superseded by these crosscutting Departments, with Ministers of State with specific responsibilities. The Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, also has the benefit of attending Cabinet meetings on a weekly basis.

There have been occasions when Ministers of State with these crosscutting responsibilities have attended the particular part of a Cabinet meeting where issues arising out of their responsibilities have been discussed or where a policy matter was being considered or decided upon. That has been a worthwhile innovation and is something I would commend. It is continuing in the context of the new Minister of State arrangements that will be announced shortly.

There is a Cabinet meeting every week, as the Deputy knows, and more if necessary, depending on the workload or what is happening. Cabinet committees meet as required. Where interdepartmental and inter-ministerial discussion on an issue would be helpful it is called on that basis. That is generally the methodology that is used.

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