Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach

The Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, officially styled as the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach (with special responsibility as Government Chief Whip), is the Chief Whip of the Government of Ireland and is the most senior Minister of State in the Government of Ireland.

The role of the Whip is primarily that of the disciplinarian for all government parties, to ensure that all deputies, including ministers, attend for Dáil Business and follow the government line on all issues. The current Government Chief Whip is Regina Doherty, TD.

The main responsibilities of the Chief Whip include:

The Chief Whip is a Minister of State who attends Government meetings, but does not have a vote. The title is sometimes given as "Minister of State, attending Government"

Other Ministers of state with the title "Minister of State, attending Government" are better known as Super Juniors.

Before each Dáil Session letters are sent to all Ministers to see what legislation or other business their Department expects to place before the Dáil. A weekly report on what stage Bills are at is given to the Taoiseach. During the Order of Business the Taoiseach is often queried about what legislation is promised. The weekly report shows what Bills are promised and gives an expected date of publication of the Bill.

Once a Bill has been published and is placed on the Dáil Order Paper the staff in the Whip's Office keep in touch with Minister's Private Secretaries about when they wish to have their bill taken in the Dáil - sometimes the Whip's Office have to insist that a Bill is taken on a certain day, particularly when there is not much business for the House. Every Wednesday the Private Secretary prepares an agenda (called a schedule - see example) for each sitting day of the following week. This is discussed at a meeting of all Whips at their Wednesday night meeting. At the moment there are five whips: Government (Fine Gael) Chief whip, Regina Doherty; Labour Party whip Emmet Stagg; Sinn Féin whip Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Fianna Fáil whip Seán Ó Fearghaíl.

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