Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

We must have available to us the information provided to the Minister for Finance from the various Departments. For example, I refer to expenditure information on education, health, the roads programme, public transport or any of the programmes and expenditures which arise. We must have access to that information, because we cannot fly blind.

I appreciate the Taoiseach's remarks to the effect that we can have a Dáil debate on the matter. That is a public exchange, which is fine, and it may be useful. However, if the Taoiseach wishes for the Opposition parties to meaningfully engage in the initiative to address the state of the public finances he must make available to us the information available to him. This is either a genuine exercise or it is a political smokescreen. I hope it is a genuine exercise, but the test of that will be whether the Taoiseach is prepared to make available to us what he has been told by the line Departments in respect of expenditures, projections and the revisions of Estimates.

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