I would be very grateful for that. In his rather comprehensive question, Deputy Kelly, in regard to paragraph (d) asked the Minister the numbers of civil service staff in Ministers' offices engaged principally in political work relating to Ministers' constituencies. May I ask the Minister whether he can give us any information on that? Is it a fact that as many as 24 civil servants, in some cases, are engaged on constituency work for Ministers? Is this not a matter in respect of which the Departments of Finance and of the Public Service could lay down standards as we do not have the same problem here that we have in regard to conferences held abroad?

(Clare): The number of people recruited to a Department for that purpose is a matter for the public service. The Minister for the Public Service has to sanction any further recruitment, just as in the case of the civil service at all times.

The question here is not the recruitment of people but the deployment of people within a Government Department, when a Government may change and when a Minister might not previously have had anybody engaged on constituency work — as I know was the case in at least one instance — and a new Minister who comes in takes 24 people from other work in his Department and puts them onto constituency work. Does that not require standards to be applied? Could the Departments of Finance and of the Public Service not apply themselves to that and make proposals to regulate what appears to have been an abuse, particularly in cases where there is a completely safe seat and there is not even a political objective to be gained by it?

(Clare): I do not know to which seat the Deputy is referring. Surely it is a departmental matter for the Minister concerned. I am talking about re-deployment now as against recruitment.

Is it not a matter for which the Minister for Finance has a direct responsibility? May I just interpolate?

Deputy, we are reaching an all-time low of 11 questions only so far——

Sir, this has been an excellent Question Time in my judgment. I put this question originally to the Taoiseach as Head of the Government. He just passed the ball to the Minister present. I am now asking the Minister, who the Taoiseach thinks is the right man to answer this question, since finance is what we are at here and trying to save money, would he agree that circumstances which emerged here last week where Deputy McEllistrim told us that ten officials, and I hope I am not doing him an injustice, were added to the staff of his own personal office — I hope I am recalling that correctly — and a similar number to the office of the Minister in chief in the Department of Fisheries and Forestry for no other purpose, as far as any Member was able to elicit, than to deal with constituency correspondence? Surely the Department over which the Minister partly presides has a responsibility and an interest in this matter? Surely this cries out for regulation and cries out for an iron hand?

(Clare): With regard to the question of the ten or 12, as I can recall it was not clarified if they were to be involved in his personal work, meaning constituency work. It is possible to have a number of people attached to any Minister's office to deal with matters that come in from Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas and many other people. It is possible that those people are involved in that work also as well as the work the Deputy has referred to.

The Minister is dropping below the standard he has set for the last 30 minutes and he knows that he is engaged in stone-walling of the most primitive kind.