Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister of State agree that we table parliamentary questions to the relevant Minister? That is being lost here. Will he agree that when one tables a question to the Minister for Health and Children, the Minister should get that answer from the HSE and supply it in her response to the question? The thinking appears to be that when we table a question it is of the Department we are asking it. We are asking it of the Minister. That is the issue that has been ignored here for the past number of years. To say that one cannot get a reply from an agency is unacceptable. We ask questions of the Minister and not the Department.

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