Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As in all Departments, the senior Minister has overall responsibility. I was very glad in recent weeks to be able to appoint Deputy Smyth as Minister of State with specific responsibility for communications and the circular economy. I was particularly interested and glad to have that because he also has a similar role in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, where he has designated functions and responsibility for our public ICT systems and also the procurement role. There is a real crossover there at the heart of our public administrative system between the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and our own Department. The Minister of State also has extensive experience in the area of health IT infrastructure, which was particularly useful on this occasion.

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