Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He was the first to bring in a special office of the Tánaiste, which is what is happening on this occasion. I think it is important and it will happen into the future, of that I have no doubt. It happened in the previous Government, where Independent Ministers had special advisers. The concept and the numbers of special advisers are not new. As a three-party Government, the respective parties are very focused and the advisers' role is to deliver the programme for Government issues.

While I do not want to go into the details of individuals, given that they are entitled to their private lives, the chief of staff has a well-known background in health, having worked in industrial relations at the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and on the front line prior to that. She was also an adviser at the Department of Health for three and a half years, so she is very well versed in health matters. Nevertheless, the acting Chief Medical Officer is the key, along with NPHET, for public health advice, and that is the way it should be in terms of presenting advice to the Government.

To respond to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I have always accepted the need for advisers in government, which is why, as Opposition leader, I never focused on special advisers, whether with the former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, or when the Tánaiste was Taoiseach. I focused on the political communications unit, and had fundamental issues with its structure and how Parliament and the Government should operate. The Government has not hired a public relations firm for the Government-wide plan. The Department of Health has hired advice for public health dimensions, but the Government as a whole has not. There has been a Government communications programme in respect of the pandemic from its commencement, with all the various advertisements that people will have seen on the television, in the newspapers and so on.

We do listen to people on the ground, consistently, and we engage with them. I do that and have done so all my life as a politician. It is not unique to people in opposition. All Deputies do their best to do that. We will continue to do that and to engage with people.

Deputy Kelly's concern for the Ministers of State is very touching-----

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