Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 4 together.

On 23 March 2010 the Government appointed Deputy John Curran as Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at my Department and at the Department of Defence, and Deputy Dara Calleary as Minister of State at my Department, the Department of Finance and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation with special responsibility for public service transformation and labour affairs. Deputy Dick Roche was reappointed as Minister of State at my Department and at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European affairs on 22 April 2009.

As Chief Whip, Deputy Curran is primarily responsible for the organisation of Government business in the Dáil and for the Government's programme for Dáil reform. He also oversees the preparation of the Government's legislative programme. In addition, my statutory functions covering the Central Statistics Office have been delegated to the Deputy.

In my Department, Deputy Roche chairs an interdepartmental co-ordinating committee on European Union affairs. The committee keeps under review, and works to ensure coherence on, the full range of issues on the EU's agenda. The committee has a particular focus on the correct and timely transposition of EU legislation. In addition to these duties, Deputy Roche represents the Government at a wide range of EU and international meetings. Deputy Roche plays a central role in consolidating and further developing Ireland's bilateral relations with EU member states. He also plays a key role in communicating the importance of the European Union to Ireland and thus fostering enhanced public understanding of EU issues.

Deputy Calleary has special responsibility for public service transformation. This responsibility is in addition to his role as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with responsibility for labour affairs. His new role will allow him to co-ordinate the transformation effort across the public service, with a view to creating a more integrated, customer focused, and essentially "fit for purpose" public service.

As always, questions on the functions of particular Ministers of State in other Departments should be tabled to the relevant Ministers.

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