asked the Minister for Finance if he will state the number of new Government Departments or new sub-Departments or sections of Departments which have been set up since 1932; the date on which each such new Department or sub-Department was established; whether it is still functioning; and if not, on what date it ceased to function.

The information requested by the Deputy is in the form of a tabular statement which, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I shall have circulated with the Official Report.

The statement is as follows:—

(a) Merged in the Department of Industry and Commerce.

(b) A sub-Department has been interpreted as any Office of a Department the officer in charge of which acts as Accounting Officer. It is inferred from the wording of the later portion of the question that the Deputy regards sub-Departments and Sections as interchangeable terms.

(c) This Office was actually set up on the 23rd October, 1941, but the accounting arrangements which bring it within the category of a sub-Department were not brought into operation until 1st April, 1942.