Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I have no problem in principle with keeping Opposition leaders informed of any developments that are noteworthy in terms of movement of the original proposition. I take Deputy Gilmore's point that it is important, for example, that the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland and other business groups are able to convey to their counterparts in the United States that there is a strong united front on our part to do whatever we can, consistent with proper and appropriate diplomacy and working hand-in-hand with the US Administration and Congress in a positive and constructive way, to ensure we obtain a positive outcome, as we have done in the past when certain tax issues arose and we needed to end up at a point where the Administration's objectives were to a greater or lessor extent met which, at the same time, did not have an adverse impact on arrangements here. We can correspond with the Opposition parties and keep them updated on these issues.

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