Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach his plans to change the structure and management of his Department. [50327/17]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach his plans for structural and management changes in his Department. [51686/17]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the number of political staff he has now appointed; and his plans for further appointments. [51722/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 9, inclusive, together. The role of my Department is to support my work as Taoiseach and to co-ordinate the work of the Government and Cabinet. My Department is structured around seven main work areas. The breakdown of staff currently assigned to each of these areas is as follows: 25 staff assigned to the international, EU and Northern Ireland division; 24 staff assigned to the economic division; 24 staff assigned to the Government secretariat, protocol division and the parliamentary liaison unit;12 staff assigned to the social policy and public service reform division; 11 staff assigned to the strategic communications unit; 28 staff assigned to the corporate affairs division; and eight staff assigned to the information and records management unit. The remainder of staff in my Department include services staff and those aligned to private offices, constituency offices, the Government press office and internal audit.

With the exception of politically appointed staff such as special advisers, all staff assignments, appointments and recruitment in my Department are the responsibility of the Secretary General. While there are currently no plans to change the structure of my Department, the Department’s staffing needs are reviewed on an ongoing basis.

There are currently 19 politically appointed staff employed by my Department. Politically appointed staff employed by my Department include special advisers; personal assistants; civilian drivers to Independent Ministers and Ministers of State; the deputy Government press secretary; the assistant Government press secretary; the chief strategist for the Independent Alliance and the political co-ordinator for the Independent Ministers in Government.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Last week the Taoiseach told me that there were a total of 22 staff working for him in his constituency and private offices. These include a deputy secretary, an assistant secretary, a principal officer and so forth. There are 18 staff in the Taoiseach's private office and four in his constituency office. I do not know if the total of 22 includes staff working out in the constituency. How many of the 22 staff are political?

In terms of the structure and management of his Department, the Taoiseach has been in office for a reasonable amount of time now. A headline in the Independentnewspaper this morning reads "Families 'devastated' as surgery target for children with scoliosis shelved". This is something that the Taoiseach and I discussed when we were both Ministers. When I was Tánaiste and he was a Minister, I secured, with his full support, the funding for the new operating theatre in Crumlin. There are 22 people in his office at the level of deputy secretary, assistant secretary, principal officer, assistant principal officer, higher executive officer and executive officer. How, in that context and in terms of the approach to this very important strategic issue, can we be told through the newspapers this morning of the distress of the parents and families of 210 children, whose target deadline for surgery was confirmed by the Taoiseach and by the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, to me and other Deputies not too long ago, appears to have been abandoned? This also includes children referred to by the Government in this House who would be facilitated to go abroad, mainly to the UK, to have their desperately needed operations done. I cannot understand what is going on in the Taoiseach's office. I know he is busy and this is a relatively small item in the overall scheme of things but it is desperately important to the people involved.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The debacle on Monday around the negotiations between the EU and the British Government has brought into sharp focus the difficulties involved in managing the Brexit process. Does the Taoiseach have any plans to increase the number of staff in his Department or to change how staff are deployed to deal with this issue? I am also concerned at the way the weekend's events were managed. Clearly, Brussels and the Irish Government believed that an agreement had been reached with the British. Experience of negotiations with successive British Governments, unionist leaders and Irish Governments has taught me, however, that until a deal is signed, sealed and delivered it is always best to be cautious. Over the weekend, and certainly from Sunday and into Monday, there was a lot of heavy briefing of the media. I do not know where the chain of command stands in that regard. Perhaps the strategic communications unit thought it was a good news story but there was lots of scéil about an emerging deal. A Government press conference was flagged up for most of Monday in the naive expectation that a deal would be announced. The end result was to give the DUP the excuse it needed.

The DUP leader followed up with ludicrous claims which added to the sense of amateur hour, confusion and farce. The big question is where the process goes from here. Is the Taoiseach prepared to block progress to phase two unless Britain gives formal written guarantees there will be no economic border?

From the briefing we received, it was not clear and, in fact, one could assume - if that is a safe thing to do - that citizens in the North will not have access to the European Court of Justice and the European institutions, like citizens of the European Union in Dublin, Cork or Paris. That was certainly absent from the communication that was relayed to us.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Since the budget, on a number of occasions, the Taoiseach has indicated he is being very reasonable and that he thinks €6 million going on staff and marketing in the new communications unit is okay. I think it is actually quite extraordinary growth, given the Taoiseach mentioned 11 people have been employed in the unit in double quick time. I remember Deputy Stephen Donnelly asking questions about Brexit personnel being increased in various agencies and it took over a year to get two or three extra people into various Brexit agencies. Given the strategic communications unit has been ramped up very quickly, with 11 people working there, if we look at the departmental element of the Taoiseach's Vote, one thing stands out, namely, about one fifth of the total budget is now spent on marketing campaigns. It is quite unusual across the democratic world that the Prime Minister's office - in this case, the Taoiseach's office - would have such a personal budget weighted to marketing. I am unclear as to its direction or the necessity for it.

Last week we were told the children's hospitals would be the focus of a marketing strategy from the strategic communications unit. However, the lack of scoliosis operations will not be focus of that unit. I know the Taoiseach has said we need more good news and that it is designed to counterbalance the independent media, which he believes is too negative. He spoke here some weeks ago and said there is too much negativity in the general independent media. I looked at last night's programme on disability services and I can bet my bottom dollar that will not feature in the work of the strategic communications unit.

I am very uncomfortable with the blurring of the lines between what was traditionally known as Government information and political campaigning. I believe the strategic communications unit, notwithstanding people's best intentions, runs the very real risk of blurring those lines and that we will end up with political campaigns around issues that Government politicians will want to use to promote themselves, as opposed to giving basic information to the public.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am not sure what the connection is between departmental staff and political staff and the issue of the scoliosis, other than the attempt to use scoliosis and people who are suffering from it and their families to have a go at me. I think that is bad politics, quite frankly. The Labour Party, as we all know, would have 20 members as State-funded staff and I am sure the leader's allowance paid to Deputy Howlin is also paid to higher staff in the headquarters of the Labour Party. Fianna Fáil, through its Senators, Deputies and the leader's allowance, probably has 100 State-funded, taxpayer-funded staff. If it is the Deputies' view there is some connection between that and scoliosis, I think they should perhaps offer to second some of the staff for Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party towards-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The staff is fine. I asked about the communications unit.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Taoiseach should be worthy of a better reply. It is a really important issue.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is a really important issue and not one that should be taken advantage of to have a go at me. If we are going to talk about scoliosis, which is a really important issue, let us talk about scoliosis and let us not use-----

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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You are the Taoiseach. It is about providing the resources to address it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Let us not try to use departmental resourcing. It is old-fashioned politics and very disappointing. Let me talk about scoliosis because I actually care about it.

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The question is about changes in the management of the Department.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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It is the Taoiseach's strategic approach to issues like scoliosis and how he organises those staff.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Given that Deputies were given wide latitude to discuss a very important issue like scoliosis under a question that is related to the structure and management of my Department, I would like to talk about scoliosis as well because I think it is very important. It is not the kind of issue I would use in that sort of way to score tacky points around the management of a Department.

I am a doctor by profession. I understand scoliosis. I have treated patients who have had scoliosis. When I was a medical student, I remember seeing kids who were waiting on operations whose lung function was getting worse by the day and by the month because of the delays in getting treatment. I vowed to myself that if I ever had the privilege to hold political office, to be Minister for Health or Taoiseach, I would try to do something about this. I have been following this issue as a Deputy and as Minister for Health, and I am still following it and working on it as Taoiseach. I take it very seriously and it is something I am very committed to because I really feel for these kids and their families.

We have made very significant strides forward. We have the new theatre in Crumlin, for which I provided funding when I was Minister for Health. I appreciate it is not open fully to capacity but it is open. As Minister for Health I also took the decision to offer the option of going abroad for treatment to patients. I totally accept that many families do not accept that but the offer is made.

I am sure, if the Deputy genuinely cared about this issue, she would have mentioned and welcomed the progress that has been made. At the beginning of February of this year there were 315 patients awaiting spinal fusion. As of 1 December there are 156 patients on the scoliosis active waiting list, so, since February, the number of people on that scoliosis waiting list is down by more than half. The numbers now waiting more than four months was 80 last week, it will be down to 68 this week and by the end of the year, it will be down to 25. There will be only 25 children with scoliosis waiting more than four months and all those will be given an offer in the new year.

Instead of taking cheap shots, I would have thought, at the very least, we would have got some recognition from the Labour Party about the amount of progress that has been made in this area. I know it is not achieving everything or what those kids deserve but to have gone from 315 patients waiting down to 156 now, and to as few as 25 waiting more than four months by the end of this year, is enormous progress. A lot of credit is due to the officials working on this in the various Departments, to the staff in the HSE and, in particular, to the consultants, nurses and other staff in Crumlin.

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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There are three minutes left on this. I will give 30 seconds each, with the Taoiseach to reply. I call Deputy Burton.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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This question is about how the Taoiseach manages strategic issues in his office. We all appreciate that as a new Taoiseach, like any Taoiseach, he is exceptionally busy and, therefore, he has to prioritise and have a strategy in regard to issues. I could read the Taoiseach a letter from one of the most eminent doctors in Crumlin that would probably make him cry. It is about what that doctor feels at the frustration of not having enough resources in terms of doctors and, in particular, nurses to have that theatre-----

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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As I said, the Taoiseach is suffering from a little bit of amnesia. I was involved in having this funded. The Taoiseach was Minister for Health at the time I was Tánaiste and we co-operated on it. What I am interested in is why, strategically, the Taoiseach is not following up on these issues. We appreciate that Brexit is very important but so too are the issues relating to health and other areas in this country.

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I call Deputy Adams. If Deputy Burton wants an answer, she should allow time for the Taoiseach to reply.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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That is what the question is about. The Taoiseach is choosing now to denigrate it as some form of inappropriate question when it is probably his most important responsibility as someone privileged to be Taoiseach.

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I call Deputy Adams, who should be as brief as possible.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I will do my best. I will take my example from the former Tánaiste, who was on watch when many of these issues developed.

My question to the Taoiseach was ignored by him. It was related to access for people in the North to the European Court of Justice and other European institutions and to clarifying that the Government would not move to the next phase of the negotiations until there was a satisfactory conclusion to the current phase.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My fundamental question was about the blurring of the lines between propaganda emanating from the Taoiseach's Department via the strategic communications unit, SCU, and real news. I referenced scoliosis services. Let us be honest - "RTÉ Investigates" was the key programme that provoked a reaction from the Government on waiting lists, in particular for people with scoliosis. People were horrified and appalled, but it took programmes of that kind to force the Government to react. Likewise, with reference to last night's programme on the appalling circumstances of many elderly parents of adult citizens with intellectual disabilities, it will upset people across the country that this is where society is. Will it be "RTÉ Investigates" versus the SCU? Please God, the national children's hospital will be the next good news story and we are all rooting for it. It has had a long gestation period in planning and so on. The SCU cannot become a propaganda unit. Independent media are important. We might not like some of the stories and Governments may not like what emerges on television and radio programmes from time to time in revealing unacceptable situations, but that is the intercourse of political life and accountability by the Government to the people. That is what having an independent media is all about. The use of taxpayers' money and the ramping up of the SCU from nothing to 11 staff and €5 million outstrip the extra allocations of staff for Enterprise Ireland to deal with Brexit in the early months. That is the general point I am making.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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For the record, what the SCU deals with is the provision of public information and campaigns. It does not deal with political matters such as the Brexit talks or responding to what happens on television or radio programmes. That is not its role as I am sure I have said many times.

As regards how I structure my Department, one of my special advisers, Ms Angela Flanagan, follows health matters. A specific part of her remit is keeping an eye on scoliosis services and keeping me informed on the issue. While it is absolutely the case that the RTÉ "Prime Time" programme had an impact and spurred further Government action, the provision of a theatre had been approved by me as Minister for Health long before that programme was aired. While I do acknowledge that the then Tánaiste, Deputy Joan Burton, took an interest in the issue and helped me to secure funding for the theatre from the person who is now her party leader and held the purse strings at the time, it is counterbalanced ten to 15 times over by the number of times that I had to fight, when Minister, with the Labour Party to defend the health and disability budget.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thought that those parties were part of a collective and cohesive Government - very sad.