Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. Will he outline the configuration of the regional units? I presume it is on a geographic basis and takes economic and political interests into consideration as well. As the Minister noted, over the years, there has been, quite rightly and understandably, very close co-operation between representatives of statutory agencies and the diplomatic staff attached to our embassies abroad. That is a very practical and necessary approach, be it the IDA, Enterprise Ireland or Bord Bia that is working closely with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in different capitals in particular.

In the odd instance, is it practical to consider assigning some diplomatic duties to personnel from statutory agencies where it is not possible to have diplomatic representation or staff and to have an even greater interaction between the duties and responsibilities of public service personnel? Perhaps Enterprise Ireland and the IDA do not have the resources or need to have a full-time official or officials in a particular location. Similarly, the Minister faces the challenges of trying to cover many areas. Is there scope to consider assignment of duties in practical situations to other members of the public service who are not necessarily members of the Department?

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