asked the Taoiseach if he will give full details of any persons appointed to his Department from outside the established civil service since he assumed office last December.

7.

asked the Taoiseach the name, position, rank, terms and conditions of appointment and salaries of any non-established civil servants appointed by him or his Ministers of State on a full-time or part-time basis up to 26 January 1983; and, if they are on secondment, the agencies or bodies from which they were seconded.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together and to circulate with the Official Report a statement giving the particulars requested. There were nine appointments in all, four in relation to Ministers of State. So far as my own office is concerned there are five appointments, the same number as in the case of my predecessor in office, who also appointed to his Department three established civil servants who were originally public interest appointments. All appointments now made are limited to the life of the present Government.

Regarding the reference to my appointments, the Taoiseach will admit that I did not appoint anybody from outside the public service. Is the Taoiseach now saying that he has appointed five persons to his Department from outside the established public service?

Yes, I am, and that is what I have said. I am not sure of what the Leader of the Opposition has stated about his own appointments.

Is the Taoiseach saying something about my appointments?

The Deputy said that he appointed non-established civil servants while his statements seemed to imply the contrary and I was a little confused.

I would like to pursue this further. My recollection is that, certainly in the last period of office, I did not appoint anybody from outside the established public service to my Department. Would the Taoiseach confirm that?

No, I cannot confirm that on the information given to me.

Would the Taoiseach care to indicate what persons from outside the public civil service I appointed to my Department?

The appointments were to the directorship of the GIS, two personal assistants to the Taoiseach and an adviser on all-Ireland affairs.

I had overlooked the GIS.

Do I understand the Taoiseach correctly that five people were appointed from outside the civil service to his Department, to his own office, and four to the Ministers of State?

Yes.

How are they divided? Is it two and two?

No, there are three Ministers of State, so there is one for each of two and two for the other. I gave full details in my reply.

Can the Taoiseach tell the House from what institutions these people are drawn and from what walks of life they come? What expertise had they for being appointed to those positions?

Three of them come from the Houses of the Oireachtas and are transfers for secretarial purposes and one appointment of an adviser is from outside the Civil Service.

Were these people previously working for the Fine Gael Party?

No, these are normal transfers of secretaries from the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The Chair says that it is unsatisfactory to have this dealt with piecemeal by way of circulation and piecemeal by oral answer and I suggest that it would be more satisfactory to wait until the full question has been heard.

I bow to your ruling, but to clarify something the Taoiseach said, to my knowledge there is no such thing as a normal transfer. I take it that the Taoiseach is saying that three of those people were formerly employed here as secretaries to the Fine Gael Party.

Yes.

8.