Vol. 508 No. 1
247 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Defence if he has used section 12 of the Public Service Management Act, 1997, which allows for appropriate action to be taken on cross-departmental issues in a structured way; and the areas of work of his Department which are touching on the work of other Departments in respect of which cross-departmental arrangements might be appropriate. [17361/99]
Certain areas of the work of my Department touch on the work of other Departments, for example, in the internal and international security area, in the area of fishery protection and surveillance, and in the area of search and rescue. Cross-departmental arrangements are in place, in some cases for many years, in relation to all of these work areas to ensure proper planning and coordination and efficient and effective operations. I believe these arrangements are working well so I have not seen a need to date to use the section 12 provisions referred to by the Deputy.
