John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is an opinion that I did not canvass or ask to be put in place. I was talking about it. It was that in seriously exceptional circumstances, maybe there should be an arrangement where a Minister could make a case to the Taoiseach - it is provided for in the 1959 regulation - which had to with illness or a bereavement or any personal circumstances, and that he should be allowed to articulate it. I made this point in my reply to the reporter on this issue. It is not one that gives a carte blanche travel arrangement to every spouse right across any Department. Would it be done now if I was a Taoiseach sitting down looking at it? It would want to be seriously exceptional.