Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is important that people do not involve the assistant principal, who is simply a liaison officer who deals with queries from Independent Deputies and passes them on to Departments. There is no need to involve him in political discussions or suggest he is involved in this. That is not his role.

With regard to the liaison that takes place for Deputies who support the Government, per head of Dáil Members it is far less than the cost involved when we set up programme offices, programme managers and the office of the Tánaiste when the Labour Party came into office. Per head of population that was a far more expensive support arrangement than what currently exists, which is quite frugal in comparison.

One need not make a mountain out of a molehill. People supporting the Government have a liaison arrangement with the Office of the Chief Whip. The person involved is an assistant principal and liaises with the Deputies on an ongoing basis, as the Deputies require. This is part of the management of Government to ensure we have a majority in the House to implement the programme for Government.

The political agreements they have are subject to the same constraints as other spending programmes. The committee reviewing public service numbers and programmes has examined all spending programmes. Priorities are established, decided on and implemented by the Government. That will apply to these matters as well. These questions provide opportunities for Deputies to suggest something other than what is the case. I have outlined the basic arrangement and it makes clear political sense.

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