Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

The Taoiseach is deliberately avoiding the core issue which is that in any negotiation for a programme for Government, in any bilateral agreement between parties to form a Government, the agreement is published and the people know and can make a judgment on it. The problem with the arrangements that the Government has with the Independents is that they are secret. The Taoiseach says they are not to be disclosed yet there is a cost involvement, a cost which many of them are declaring at local level to be tens of millions. In the current climate, does the Taoiseach accept that it is unacceptable to have secret agreements that will cost God knows how much money to the taxpayer, that cannot be part of the overall scrutiny known to the people? I am simply asking if those deals should be published in the interests of transparency.

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