Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

It has come to my attention that the Government is charging survivors of these homes and schools for freedom of information requests. Will the Minister for Finance waive the fee for applications from survivors?

My second question relates to debate in the House. A European Council meeting was held last week at which some important decisions regarding the Europe 2020 strategy were made. The Government has signed off on this and it will now be the framework on which the European Union and Ireland will develop economically over the next 20 years. It is normal practice that following the Council meetings, we have a debate on the issue in the House on the following Wednesday, which was yesterday. No debate has taken place and the Taoiseach did not come to the House to discuss the issue either before he went to the meeting to sign off on the matter or afterwards.

See this speech in context