asked the Minister for Defence whether his Department are now carrying out hydrographic surveys.

The Government decided in July 1963 that, in principle, an Irish hydrographic service should be established as part of the Naval Service and that implementation of that decision should be deferred until such time as the staffing resources of the Naval Service and financial considerations would permit.

The position obtaining since then was explained in the second and third paragraphs of my predecessor's reply to Question No. 5 on 19 June 1980.

That question was put down to the Minister's predecessor and I was told that an agency under the Taoiseach's Department was dealing with it. Consequently I put down a question to the Taoiseach. Would the Minister state why it has now been transferred to his office?

The fount of truth and all that.

The Minister's predecessor informed me that the National Board for Science and Technology under the Department of the Taoiseach had responsibility for this matter. That was the reply to an earlier question. I then tabled a question to the Taoiseach and I am amazed to find that the answer is being given by the Minister of State at the Department of Defence. Will anything be done in this matter since nothing has been done for 17 years?

The Naval Service have many serious duties and onerous duties to carry out and hydrographic surveying is not a high priority with them, although they would certainly like to do it. They are heavily involved in fishery patrols and many other duties.

This is not a matter for the Naval Service because it is now under the Department of the Taoiseach. May I have some indication as to whether anything will be done in this regard? The question was put to the Taoiseach and for some reason it was transferred to the Minister for Defence.

The rules and regulations of the House decide where questions are placed.

A final supplementary.

Is the Minister of State correct in saying that the rules of the House determine who answers questions?

A question is transferred on the basis of collective responsibility.

It is not a function of the Chair.

No, it is not the function of the Chair.

The question was transferred by the Taoiseach because he does not like answering questions in this House. Any questions which might be embarrassing are transferred to one of the boys down the line.

I want to ask the Minister whether hydrographic surveys have been carried out during this 17-year period?

I am not sure, but the general practice in Dublin is to correct the Admiralty charts without carrying out full surveys.

Does the Minister's brief not cover that point? Surely that arises directly from the question? Is the Minister in a position to tell us if any surveys have been carried out?

The Naval Service have not carried out surveys, so far as I know.

Have other naval services carried out surveys on our behalf?

Admiralty charts are corrected from time to time but we do not always carry out full hydrographic surveys.

Question No. 29.

On a point of information, is it not a fact that the Royal Navy still have to do the job for us? I saw them doing it in West Cork.

Will the Minister answer the question called by the Chair.