Vol. 412 No. 5
42 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Finance if he has any views on the propriety of public representatives being employed in a full-time capacity to advise Ministers or Ministers of State; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Until 1985, any person employed as a special adviser or personal assistant in a Minister's office was bound by the normal restrictions concerning civil servants and politics.
However, in July of 1985, the then Government, which included members of the Deputy's party, took a decision that personal assistants and special advisers in Ministers' offices should be exempt from those restrictions.
The operation of that decision has not given rise to any problems and I see no reason to alter it.
