Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister very much. The creation of this division seems to be a halfway house between Fine Gael's manifesto commitment to a Department of infrastructure and Fianna Fáil's own ambitions in this area, as reflected in its general election manifesto. The division will be headed by a deputy Secretary General. That is also the case in some other Departments. I believe the Department of Justice has a deputy Secretary General. The way the Minister has described this suggests that expertise will be pulled into this division from other Departments. Will this then mean a diminution of expertise in, for example, the Department of Transport? Many of us in the Oireachtas are concerned about delays to major transport projects around the country. How might that work? The Minister will understand, will accept and has experienced in his role the principle that finances follow functions. When a Department is split up and functions move, the resources move with them. Is that the case?

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