Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

There must be political accountability to the House because we do not want a repeat of what happened before when Ministers did not read briefs or told us they were unaware of certain things. In those cases people in the Civil Service fell on their swords. I insist that there must be political accountability on this matter. The Minister must come before the House, answer for himself, take questions and take responsibility.

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