Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

The Taoiseach has had time to reflect on the unit's merits and value. Does the Taoiseach see anything wrong in the information being made more widely available? Given that civil servants are engaged in collecting the information on the back of taxpayers' money, is it not in the common good for Members to be brought into the information loop? We would be better informed to do our job in the House.

The Taoiseach stated the limit of the unit's service was the greater Dublin area. How does this tie in with the Taoiseach's claim that the former Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, had no problem receiving information on what people were saying about electronic voting when he was in the Far East? Would Ms Monica Leech have got the information in the Far East, as well as the Minister? Is the information dispersed to wherever Ministers happen to be? If so, why can it not be dispersed to Deputies given that we are probably in Ireland when the Ministers are abroad?

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