Sir, – The recent Oireachtas Transport Committee meeting on the Dublin Airport debacle reminds me of a scene from the classic UK comedy series Yes Minister.
The responsible minister’s senior civil servant was asked how a committee might determine the reasons why the implementation of a government policy had failed miserably.
His response remains timely: “I do see that there is a real dilemma here in that while it has been government policy to regard policy as a responsibility of ministers and administration as a responsibility of officials, the question of administrative policy can cause confusion between the policy of administration and the administration of policy especially when the responsibility of the administration of policy conflicts or overlaps with responsibility of the administration of the policy.” – Yours, etc,
JAMES QUINN,
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Rochester,
Michigan, US.
