I call Deputy Michael Collins.

It is 23 weeks and four days since the general election took place and almost four months since junior Ministers were appointed to their positions. However, powers have yet to be delegated to more than 50% of junior Ministers by this Government. The Taoiseach knows well the major housing crisis we have and the major challenges faced by small businesses, by communities that do not have flood relief schemes and by young people waiting for close to 13 months for their driving tests. Powers have not yet been delegated to the junior Ministers who are meant to deal with these issues and to make changes. Will the Taoiseach tell the people why a process to delegate powers to junior Ministers, which took just two to three weeks after the formation of previous Governments, is now taking four months?

The Government was formed on 22 January. The general election was at the end of November. A number of Opposition people habitually equate the general election date with the formation of Government date. It is a clever ploy but it is not the truth. The Government has only been in office since 22 January. It is a very short while. It might seem like longer to the Deputy but that is how short it has been. In many instances, during the previous Government, the junior Ministers were not all sorted within two to three weeks. By any yardstick, it took much longer. There were some fundamental changes in Departments, with tourism going to enterprise. That led to a broader change. Quite a number of the junior Ministers have delegated powers. Not every Minister of State gets a delegated legal authority. A mistake is often made that one requires legal delegations in order to perform certain duties. That is not the case.

For example, the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs historically has never had delegated authority-----

I thank the Taoiseach.

-----but everyone understands their role, function and purpose. It has been a very effective one. Deputy Thomas Byrne has performed excellently in the role, as have his predecessors.