Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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1723. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the meetings he has had with the Secretary General and other senior officials in his Department as Minister for Defence. [35903/17]

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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1724. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of meetings he has attended of the management advisory committee as Minister for Defence. [35904/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1723 and 1724 together.

The Defence (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2017 came into effect on 5 July 2017. The Order delegates statutory responsibility for a wide range of Defence matters to the Minister Paul Kehoe, T.D.

The Secretary General is responsible for the management of the Department and is supported in this role by the Management Board (formerly known as the management advisory committee).The Board normally meets every week and is chaired by the Secretary General. It provides leadership and strategic direction in fulfilling the Department's broad range of business and corporate responsibilities.

Minister Kehoe periodically meets with the Management Board, he is also in daily contact with individual Management Board members on a range of issues as part of the on-going business of the Department and keeps me apprised of relevant matters.

As part of my ongoing discussions with individual Ministers I recently held my Bilateral meeting with Minister Kehoe together with the Secretary General of the Department of Defence. The meeting was held to discuss a wide variety of specific policy issues.