The differences in the responsibilities between the old Department of Transport, Energy and Communications and the new Department of Public Enterprise are that the natural resources elements of the former Department of Transport, Energy and Communications namely the exploration and mining and petroleum affairs divisions have been transferred to the Department of Marine and Natural Resources.
The reason behind the title and concept of the Department of Public Enterprise is that the former Department of Transport, Energy and Communications had become de facto responsible for most of the larger commercial semi-State companies and for much of the State's involvement in the economy. It was decided to recognise this explicitly by renaming the Department and establishing it as the Department of Public Enterprise, thus underlining the Governments commitment, as contained in our document, An Action Programme for the Millennium, to have “growing, vigorous, healthy companies, serving the public well and giving high quality employment at home and abroad, regardless of any evolution in structure”.