Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

It is with some trepidation that I rise to speak. Is there a record of these agreements? Is it the Taoiseach's intention to publish them and, if so, when will they be published? I have a sheaf of papers, which the former lenient occupant of the Chair might have given me time to read out, but I will rush through one or two of them. Deputy Healy-Rae stated he had secured commitments worth tens of millions of euros for his constituency and Deputy Finian McGrath said what he had agreed was worth hundreds of millions of euro nationally, including €300 million for services for people with disabilities. Deputy Healy-Rae stated it is a private, personal document and that there is no hope in the wide earthly world of us seeing it. This is all taxpayers' money and I would like the Taoiseach to indicate whether these will be published.

We have a number of Independent Deputies running around the House waving bits of paper, admittedly fairly opaquely. We know Deputy Healy-Rae seems to be ferrying around a piece of paper like the third secret of Fatima and all one can see is that the deal is with Fianna Fáil. We seem to have an extraordinary situation where there are four Independent Deputies in the House who think they have written deals with the Taoiseach and the Progressive Democrats, a party in Government, has no deal at all. The Taoiseach will not publish the four deals these Deputies have said are worth hundreds of millions of euro.

Is the Taoiseach stating these Independent Deputies are fools and they got nothing at all, as it was all in the national development plan, the multi-annual programme for the budget or Transport 21? If that is the case, what is the problem? What is it all about?

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