Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

We suggested that the group report directly to the chairperson in order to give it status, so that it could go straight to the top, rather like reporting to a Minister instead of officials, or to the Taoiseach instead of a Minister. There is nothing to preclude the chairperson or the group itself from giving the report to every member of the agency. There is nothing to preclude the chairperson or chief executive of the agency from inviting the consultative group to make a presentation, therefore, I do not see parallels in some of the examples Senator Norris gave. Giving the group a direct reporting mechanism was designed to strengthen it.