Will the Minister tell the House if in his appointments to his cabinet he has appointed an official specifically to look after his constituency affairs? If such an appointment has been made I should like to know the grade in the civil service this person holds.

We do not do things like that; that is a hang-up from Coalition days. I take people offered to me by my Department. We behave ourselves as a Government and we do not make perks available in our private offices for all sorts of sycophants dragged in from outside. It is not our style.

Surely the Minister has a better joke than that.

I should like to know if there is an official in the Minister's Department, or his Cabinet, solely responsible for the affairs of his constituency.

I do not have a cabinet; I have a private office, as has been the position in regard to all Ministers since the foundation of the State. The people in that private office are civil servants who were recruited in the ordinary way.

Has any person been specifically delegated to take care of the Minister's constituency work and, if so, at what level?

I have a Private Secretary who looks after most matters that need attention to by any Private Secretary. That Private Secretary is on the same basis as every Private Secretary appointed since the formation of the State. I do not know what the Deputy is getting at. I believe there is a certain amount of insanity gripping the Opposition benches.

It is blowing across the chamber a bit.

If there is it is contagious.