Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Deputy will recall that at the first Question Time in this Dáil I suggested that we might do away with one of the ordinary questions to the Taoiseach because such questions come up very often on a rota basis, as the Deputy is well aware. I was asking the same questions repeatedly for nine years when I was in opposition. Following this restructuring, the Department of the Taoiseach will oversee the implementation of the programme for Government. I chair the seven Cabinet committees which are intrinsically involved in all the important issues of Departments and which the Ministers attend and these are in addition to Cabinet meetings.

The Deputy's question concerned the provision of a progress report on the halving of the size of the Department, as committed to in the programme for Government. That referred to the Fine Gael document published before the election. Maybe whoever drafted the question for the Deputy got a bit excited. It is in the programme for Government.

See this speech in context