Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a survey that is designed to assess citizens' awareness of Departments and agencies, and what they do, their satisfaction with them and what improvements they would like to see. I look forward to the input of party leaders in suggesting additional questions or amending some of the questions. The outcome will be published for everyone to see. It will be repeated over time to see if there has been a change in public perceptions of Government agencies and bodies and so on.

The Department's main involvement in the papal visit will involve the protocol section, which has a specific role in welcoming visiting Heads of State and of Government. The Pope is a visiting Head of State and will be accorded the same courtesy, honours and respect of any visiting Head of State. The protocol section is very involved in helping to coordinate the Government’s response to the visit. It is also proposed that there will be an event in Dublin Castle which will be the main Government aspect of the visit which is principally a pastoral one and it is important to bear that in mind.

The major cost will relate to security and matters such as Garda overtime. That will fall to the Department of Justice and Equality Vote rather than the Department of the Taoiseach Vote.

The Government of Ireland identity or brand is being retained. Among the objectives of the SCU when it was first established was to move away from a Government which is fragmented with many Departments and agencies with their own logos and websites and competing identities and very often competing communications budgets towards something streamlined.

The Government of Ireland identity remains in place, as does the basic harp logo with the green background. That will apply to any Government policy, programme or initiative that is being promoted or communicated. To the best of my knowledge, the mother and baby home consultation advertising is being paid for by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. That is going to be the case in the future. There will not be significant communications or advertising budgets in the Department of the Taoiseach. Spending will be done by line Departments and agencies. The co-ordinating role in the Government Information Service, GIS, however, will remain.

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