Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Again, the Deputy is raising two points. I do not intend to examine every aspect of it. The Government discussed the matter and we have agreed to incorporate guidelines into the Cabinet handbook in this area. These guidelines will apply, particularly in the PR or communications area, where there is a significant element of direct service to a Minister, or where a Minister suggests a name of a person or enterprise for a consultancy or contract. What will happen is that the Secretary General of the relevant Department will be required to inform the Secretary General to the Government who will arrange, if necessary, for the Cabinet secretariat to inquire about any aspects of the proposed procurement that it considers necessary. I hope an inquiry would not be necessary as the procurement process will be strengthened. The Department of Finance is already dealing with that.

The question raised by the Deputy of whether somebody with a contract to a Minister should be involved in fund raising is a wider area. If anybody has a Government contract, should he or she be debarred from political activity and debarred from a significant sector of the State? If some company such as PricewaterhouseCoopers had a contract with the Department of Finance, should everyone in the company be debarred from the system? I do not think that is what we are talking about. The issue concerns whether somebody works directly for a Minister, or works directly in a Minister's office. What we are doing is changing the regulations to deal with that area. Broadening out in a wide area is where this problem started. We have investigated the issue and two bodies have examined it. Mr. Quigley has made suggestions for change, both in the procurement process adopted by the Department of Finance and in our Cabinet handbook. We have taken action on both.

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