THERE were sharp exchanges between the Taoiseach and Fianna Fail deputies when the roles of two of his Ministers of State were questioned.
Mr Bruton strongly defended the jobs given to Mr Donal Carey and Mr Gay Mitchell, when asked by Mr Willie O'Dea (FF, Limerick East) if their responsibilities overlapped. Accusing some members of the Fianna Fail front bench of not taking the issue seriously, the Taoiseach said some of them were sniggering when Mr O'Dea was asking his question.
The Fianna Fail deputy leader, Ms Mary O'Rourke, retorted: "The Taoiseach said we were laughing at our own members. We were laughing at him."
In a lengthy outline of the responsibilities given to the Ministers of State, the Taoiseach said Mr Carey had responsibility for western development, rural renewal and the Gaeltacht, and chaired a task force on funding arrangements in the Border region.
Mr Mitchell had a vital role in ensuring the effective implementation of the Government's local development strategies, and he was responsible for the International Services Centres. He was also Minister of State for European Affairs.
"I am satisfied that, while the briefs of both Ministers in support of local development matters are complementary, there is no overlap in the responsibilities of Ministers Carey and Mitchell", the Taoiseach added.
But Mr O'Dea challenged the Taoiseach to outline anything specific which Mr Carey had done, adding that he had been apparently appointed "Minister for the West" as an afterthought when he could not get any other job.
He added that the only local development he had seen Mr Mitchell engaging in was in his own constituency of Dublin South Central.
Mr Bruton said Mr O'Dea's constituency colleague, Mr Eamon O Cuiv (Galway West) could give a very concrete example of Mr Carey's influence in ensuring the provision of proper standards of electrical power in Inis Meain on the Aran islands.
He was also responsible for bringing to light and proceeding with the implementation of a comprehensive programme to deal with the problems of the islands.
He was responsible, too, for having a political focus on the wider question of western development, and he had taken on the responsibility of coordinating the many expenditures that occurred in the Border areas.
To shouts of derision from the Fianna Fail benches, the Taoiseach said: "I am very pleased to say that I did make that appointment whereas none of my predecessors had that degree of commitment either to western development, to Border areas or to the islands that I and Deputy Carey have.
He believed, he said, that as a result of Mr Mitchell's development of the local development programme there was a wide degree of interest among communities about how EU money was spent in their areas. Other EU countries were interested in how Ireland was undertaking the task.
Mr Mitchell would be responsible, in a very substantial way, for representing the Irish national position at council of foreign ministers' meetings during the EU presidency, given that the Tanaiste would be in the chair.
Mr O Cuiv asked if the only direct finance available to Mr Carey as "Minister for the islands" was £1 million to implement the islands report.
Mr Bruton said the report called for action from a wide range of Government departments, and its purpose was to bring together in a coherent programme the activities of a range of departments.
The allocation to Mr Carey's office was simply to provide "top up finance" or finance for particular areas of action which were not covered by existing departmental responsibilities.
Replying to Mr Tom Kitt (FF, Dublin South) the Taoiseach said Mr Mitchell was responsible for local development outside the western region. Mr Carey had particular responsibility for development within the western region.
