Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I have not done that. If I wanted to find out what anybody said on a political issue, I would ask my press office to check that rather than examining the nuanced report on the first 15 items of a news bulletin. That is not a great political issue and it would probably be quicker to listen to the news headlines. The unit does not provide any political benefit whatsoever, particularly during an election. It performs a useful function in providing the news reports to the entire Civil Service system and to Ministers and Ministers of State. When Departments seek information on what was said during programmes and transcripts of programmes, they contact the unit, which produces them, and that is of benefit because if Departments were to do this, they would use an external agency. The unit provides a useful service without any political connotation. Its work is produced by civil servants and I assure the Deputy they do not provide blow by blow insights into the political nature of issues. If I was trying to get a feel for what Deputies Rabbitte, Kenny or Sargent were saying about me, I would not check with the Civil Service.

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