Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The position is that the Taoiseach is following the practice of his predecessor and stating the agreements made with the Independent Deputies who support the Government will not be published and the status of the agreements is that they were agreements between the Fianna Fáil Party, or Fianna Fáil leader at the time, and the Independent Deputies.

Has the content of the agreements made between Fianna Fáil and the Independent Deputies been made known to the other two parties in government? Second, have the contents of the agreements been approved by Government, in so far as they involve any public expenditure or commitment to public policy? Third, is there anything in the agreements which is not in the programme for Government? Fourth, if these are political agreements between Fianna Fáil and Independent Deputies which will not be published, why are they not being serviced by an officer of Fianna Fáil and paid for by the Fianna Fáil Party rather than being serviced by a civil servant and paid for by the taxpayer?

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