There is another meeting later. A small number of members are also due to have a meeting on the tobacco industry. Motions are due to be debated in Private Members' time tonight while parliamentary questions have been tabled for tomorrow. Each one of us must meet various organisations such as BUPA. Additional assistance has not been provided for us. While this may seem to favour the Government, it does not because we will draft amendments. It just makes life difficult for us. Governments come and go. When Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts a person was seconded to work with me. Thought should be given to seconding staff from the Department of Health and Children or elsewhere in the health system to assist the main spokespersons in drafting legislation and amendments to legislation. The work involved in the health area is extraordinary. Should the Minister find himself in that position after the next general election——
Business of Select Committee.
I am in that position now.
There is a precedent for this. It should be considered.
It should. It is a wider Oireachtas issue. I was Opposition spokesperson for three years and did not have backup. There were two clerical assistants for a Front Bench of 15. The typing involved made it look like a mad house. The Oireachtas should provide independent resources. There might be a problem if resources were provided by the Department of Health and Children or the Department of Education and Science as that could take from the independence of the Opposition perspective. We have not provided ourselves with the resources we require to improve our parliamentary performance. The Department is short 100 staff.
The Comptroller and Auditor General appointed a liaison officer - a higher executive officer - to work with the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts. Ways must be found to deal with this issue. We will get through legislation, reports, parliamentary questions, meetings, etc. but it means that we must draft and submit amendments by hand. While we give the Minister as tough a time as we can, we also co-operate on issues raised. The Minister should take that into account because this Dáil does not have long to live.
Is the Deputy saying that there should be a liaison officer between the Department of Health and Children and the committee?
There should be someone to assist the main Opposition spokespersons in drafting and preparatory work. Perhaps this could be done on a pilot basis. The matter could then be considered by other Departments.
That is an interesting point. I do not know if the Minister wants to provide us with ammunition. While there are limitations to our expertise, the Opposition has a productive role to play. While the Department of Finance provides a limited service for us, it was unable to provide me with certain information and calculations as the Department of Health and Children had not facilitated it, which is strange given that they are on the same side.
I was not aware of that.
The Department of Finance makes a facility available to calculate budgets. To devise a response to an Opposition spokesperson, it has had a query submitted since last October to obtain secondary information and has pinpointed the Department of Health and Children as the problem.
I will follow up the matter.
The Department of Finance has dictated that my secretary will not answer the telephone today.
The Deputy is talking about real supports.
I thank the Minister and his officials for their co-operation. I also thank members of the Opposition for their courtesy.