Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

There is no point in me saying anything if Deputy McManus always says I never said it. The commission forwarded a copy of its final draft report to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government last week. The nature of the commission's work required it to engage with that Department and the companies which promoted the voting system. Several times during the course of its work in the past two years, it engaged directly with the Department, as is clear from the first few pages of the report. In these circumstances, as a courtesy, it is entirely normal for independent groups to provide a draft report for the bodies concerned. The Minister did not circulate the report to other Ministers. Ministers would like to have read the report but none did other than the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government because his Department received it.

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