May I come to another part of the question? I asked the Taoiseach a couple of weeks ago about a retinue, I can only call it such, of 14 persons who accompanied him to a Disarmament Conference at the United Nations, and I mean no disrespect to him when I say that no one in this House can now remember what he said at that conference or whether it would have made any difference to anybody had it remained unsaid. That a retinue of 14 persons should have to travel at public expense——

Deputy, you are making a statement——

He had 25 cars in Castlebar at the unveiling of the monument to himself.

Would the Minister not accept that there is room for setting some kind of standard or criterion in such matters? I do not say that anybody deliberately abuses them but that is too much money to spend on accompanying a Minister, even if it is the Taoiseach, on an occasion of that kind. Would he not accept also that there is a case to be made for the Department of Finance setting certain standards which are transparently fair and reasonable, and not leave it to the discretion of an officeholder to take along whoever he likes or whoever is wished on him — and it is frequently the initiative of his officials rather than the officeholder which produces these immense entourages?

(Clare): With regard to the number of officials, advisers or others who travel abroad with a Minister on a given occasion, that is purely a matter for the Minister concerned himself to decide. With regard to the setting of standards, surely there would be some difficulty in so doing because the agendas of these conferences or meetings vary and the numbers needed vary also, as Deputies who have attended such conferences and meetings will realise.

A final supplementary, Deputy.

Might I ask the Minister, in view of the fact that on my own ministerial stints I have been at conferences abroad at which I doubted the utility of my own attendance let alone any of the people who accompanied me——

Deputy, a statement would arise on an Estimate but not at Question Time, when there is no such provision.