Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

There are two matters to be addressed. Yesterday, the Taoiseach flatly refused to advise the House of the details of the secret agreements he reached with a number of Independent Deputies. He has refused to lay that information before the House other than to say that they involve nothing that was not already in the Fianna Fáil programme. In the meantime, the Deputies concerned are claiming that they have got projects for their constituencies worth hundreds of millions of euro of taxpayers' money. I want to ask the Taoiseach a question that is fundamentally important for democracy. Will the terms of these secret deals be laid before the House? Second, why did the Taoiseach deny he has an agreement with Deputy Beverly Flynn? Deputy Flynn stated on 15 June:

I am absolutely delighted with what I have secured for Mayo. Bertie Ahern has verbally agreed a very generous package for the county and I will be supporting him for the vote for Taoiseach this afternoon. I do not have a signed agreement; I did not seek one. I fully accept the word of the Taoiseach. I do not need to be waving about a piece of paper.

See this speech in context