Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Did the Taoiseach mean to say the communications unit has no contact with Ministers? I understand it does and I understand why it does.

The question is what happens in the course of a general election. Officeholders already enjoy a significant advantage by definition. During the course of an election campaign, although Deputies are no longer Members of this House, Ministers continue in their positions with access that is unavailable to those on this side of the House. Is the communications unit not supporting the infrastructure of ministerial involvement which, by definition, in an election campaign is politically partisan?

The question arises of that work being declared to the Commission on Standards in Public Office as a relevant payment. The unit costs around €350,000 per annum and whatever about the political impartiality of the good civil servants working in it, and I do not question that, the work in the context of an election in supporting and briefing Ministers is very political indeed.

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