Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle has answered the question. This is a matter for the Taoiseach. The political insinuation that is being put across the Chamber is a political charge. As the Deputy knows full well, the development of the structures of my Department is within the remit of the Taoiseach.

However, it is important to say that the Ministers of State at my Department and I have been very much involved in the streamlining of the services we provide to our citizens and the creation of new policy frameworks. We have worked hard towards the greater integration of the activities of Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, county enterprise boards and a number of agencies that are not necessarily our responsibility, such as the Leader programme, Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta and Údarás na Gaeltachta, which are the responsibility of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív. We have been working on enterprise policy and supporting that with the activities of Science Foundation Ireland. My colleagues and I have also been working closely with Forfás in using the independent supports available to the State through that body to ensure we have policy that is fit for purpose. We are looking at the proposals put forward in the McCarthy report to see whether there are new opportunities in shared services and new structures that will be more cross-cutting under the remit of several of the agencies within my Department.

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