Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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103. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide, in tabular form, the dates of meetings of his Department's Management Advisory Council in 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014; the names of the civil servants present at each of these meetings; state if he or his Department's Minister of State was present at each of these meetings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45478/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I have included in the table below the dates of meetings of my Department's Management Advisory Committee (MAC) in 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014. In principle, each meeting involves the Secretary General of the Department as Chair as well as the Heads of Division at HQ at Assistant Secretary and above grade.

An innovation introduced in 2013 has seen the appointment on an annual basis of four to five other members at PO - Counsellor or equivalent grade, with a view to improving both the gender profile and overall representativeness of the MAC. In another recent innovation commencing this September, a serving Ambassador has been asked to join the MAC, again on an annual basis.

In the past, meetings of the MAC normally took place on a monthly basis but, since the beginning of this year, meetings are normally held once a fortnight if possible. On any given date, one or more may be unable to attend due to other commitments or absence. Other Departmental officials attend MAC meetings periodically to brief and participate in discussions on topical developments in their areas of responsibility. In the time available, it is not possible to confirm exactly who was present on each occasion.

Since my appointment as Minister, I have met very regularly with the members of the Management Advisory Committee and I have joined their own meeting on two occasions, most recently on 18 November last. The Ministers of State at my Department are likewise in very regular communication with members of the Management Advisory Committee, but they have not participated in the Committee meetings.