(Cavan-Monaghan): Surely the Minister will know, as he got sanction for these appointments from the Department of the Public Service, whether that was a special circumstances sanction or a general sanction. Surely the communication he received from the Department of the Public Service made it clear to him whether the embargo he referred to has been lifted generally or whether it was lifted for the purpose of these two appointments. Would the Minister say whether he was so informed or what type of sanction he got?

I repeat that that is a question for another Minister.

(Cavan-Monaghan): The truth is that the embargo is as active and as much in force as it ever was and the Minister is dodging the issue.

As Deputy Harte has said, the stenographers cannot record a nod or a shake of the head. The embargo has been lifted. The Minister shook his head. Has the embargo been lifted?

(Interruption.)

The Minister's ducking and dodging is an answer in itself.

The answer in itself is the number that have already been recruited into my Department and other Departments.

It is a completely separate issue from the question of the National Manpower Service.

It was the Minister who introduced it.