Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Has the Taoiseach made inquiries as to whether this type of carry-on is going on anywhere else in State agencies or across the public sector? Are board members and top executives of State bodies behaving like latter day Borgias at the taxpayers' expense anywhere else? In fairness to State agencies, those who work in them and the people who head them, some kind of inquiry should be ordered by the Taoiseach to find out if this type of carry-on is happening anywhere else.

It is all very well for the Taoiseach to say he is waiting for the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. The Taoiseach read what went on in FÁS, he heard the reports yesterday and he heard the explanation given by the chief executive of FÁS for the air fares and other expenses clocked up. Does the Taoiseach think it was excessive? Leaving aside whether rules were broken or regulations were transgressed, does he think junketing at the level conducted by FÁS is excessive? This involved expenses that, everyone in the House agrees, were incurred for items that should have been removed from the bill before making an expense claim. One certainly does not charge up some of these items to the taxpayer. Does the Taoiseach think it was excessive?

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