Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will make one further point on the strategic communications unit, SCU, and the Taoiseach's opening statement. I welcome the decision to disband the unit. Has the Taoiseach or his Secretary General obtained clarification from Mediaforce, the agent acting on behalf of the SCU, regarding a conflict in the evidence in the Secretary General's report where it suggested that no advertising masthead had to exist? It appears Mediaforce presented one version of an email to the Secretary General and an editor of a newspaper presented a separate version of the same email. No clarification was provided at the time of publication. Has such clarification been obtained?

Will the Minister of State indicate how many of the 15 individuals who were seconded to or employed by the strategic communications unit will be redeployed? Will all of them be redeployed?

Will the Minister explain the allocation of €2.5 million for the strategic communications unit in the Revised Estimates given that so far this year the unit has spent €1.5 million?

It appears from the report and information obtained under freedom of information legislation that the Taoiseach was communicating using his private email address. He has provided an explanation for this? Will he explain how often it transpires that he is unable to receive emails on his Oireachtas account? Deputies receive emails on our Oireachtas account on mobile telephones, iPhones and so on. How often does the Taoiseach experience the problem that senior officials in the Department cannot communicate with him through his official email address and he has no access to such emails and must, therefore, use his private email?