Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I would hate to think she had such a bad experience and that she was relegated merely to speaking at germane debates and felt excluded from the general workings of Government. It would be a great pity if that were the case. I hope it is not a reflection on her personal experience.

In the general workload of Government, the work of Ministers of State is substantive, namely, to be supportive of Ministers and work with them. There is no doubt that in the interaction of civil society with Departments and in the need to try to represent Departments at various meetings regarding policy formulation, in communicating strategy and listening to concerns at the most basic democratic level, all the Ministers of State are extremely busy people. It does no service to the profession to suggest that in some way their job is a sinecure with no substance at all.

With regard to the number of Ministers of State we now have I believe there is broad agreement that this number is appropriate in the present circumstances. That was the Deputy's own party's position so I presume she was not putting forward the idea there should be 15 Ministers of State who had nothing to do. That sort of gratuitous comment is unfortunate. It does not reflect very well on the profession nor is there any substance to the allegation. It is a sarcastic cynical view of what Ministers of State do.

The Ministers of State have been appointed and are settling into their Departments again. In due course the statutory delegated functions of Ministers of State will be brought to Cabinet in coming weeks for final approval.

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