Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Earlier on, Professor FitzGerald mentioned the ESRI publishes everything it does without censorship. In July 2000, The Irish Timesreported that changes to a draft of the medium-term review were requested by an unnamed official in the Department of Finance. These were in respect of strong criticisms made of then proposed single regulatory authority. In 2003, The Irish Timesagain reported on perceived Government influence on the medium-term review of the national development plan, stating that a recommendation to the effect that spending on the national road programme be left unchanged was replaced by a recommendation that it be increased. Can Professor FitzGerald outline to the committee whether unnamed officials within the Department of Finance, for example, in respect of the 2000 report, requested changes to the medium-term review? Were such requests acceded to?