asked the Taoiseach the number of staff in each division in his Department. [20123/98]

The information requested is included in the following schedule:

Schedule

Department of the Taoiseach: Staffing Levels by Division/Section

Is the Taoiseach satisfied with the performance of the EU division of his Department given that it has been indicated that Ireland has been——

That is a separate question. The Deputy should table a question. This question is purely statistical, which asks about the number of people. If the Deputy seeks other information, he should put down a separate question.

Let me try it another way.

The Deputy must know from experience that it is not usual to allow supplementary questions on purely statistical questions.

One can ask statistical supplementaries.

Is the Taoiseach satisfied there is an adequate number of staff in the EU section of his Department given that Ireland came bottom of the list in a recent scoreboard of countries least effective in implementing EU directives?

The directives which are relevant to the EU section in my Department have been implemented.

Arising from that supplementary, does the Taoiseach regard his Department as another line Department or a co-ordinating Department.

The Deputy should table a question. This is a purely statistical question.

The Taoiseach offered the information that, as far as his Department is concerned, he has complied with the obligations. Following from that I have asked if he regards the Department of the Taoiseach as another line Department or a co-ordinating Department.

Members should obey the Chair on these matters. I ask Members to respect the Chair and to go by what has been a long precedent in this House, that supplementary questions should not be asked on purely statistical questions where the reply is in the form of a tabular statement.

It is the implications of the statistics and his parliamentary reply——

The Deputy should table a separate question on matters arising from that.

That would involve a cost to the taxpayer.

It would be much cheaper if he answered the question now.

The Deputy has been there a year.

The Chair is concerned with the rule. The Chair does not have discretion to alter the rules in regard to questions or supplementary questions. I have made a ruling on the supplementary question and I ask the Deputy to resume his seat.

At a cost to the taxpayer.

If the question relates to chairman or chief, the answer is chief.

The question is delicately put.

We have wasted a great deal of time.

We got the real answer anyway; he is not doing his job.