Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

This amendment reflects the fact that in recent years much Government work is carried on in Government sub-committees and much of the ground is cleared by those sub-committees. In the case of particular problems relating to a Government decision, one could delegate a group of three or four very senior officials, which, depending on the question, might or might not include an adviser, to look at the matter and report back to a Minister. Obviously it is desirable that all that deliberative process, much of which of course would be oral, should also be done in writing because anything one does in writing is inevitably more systematic and also it is reviewable in a way that merely oral exchanges are not. We are talking about the deliberative process which is all part of the whole. These days it is entirely artificial to treat Government sub-committees as being totally different and apart from Government.