Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Now that the country is in mortal peril, perhaps the Taoiseach will say if he has given consideration, as previously requested by me of the Minister for Finance, to the situation that existed in England prior to the general election, namely, that the Fine Gael spokesperson on finance and I, as spokesperson on finance for the Labour Party, along with other spokespersons on finance, would have a direct line to a senior person in the Department of Finance. This happened for George Osborne and Vince Cable in the run up to the British general election, namely, the Opposition were given the detailed figures and were in a position, free of whatever take the serving Government - in this case the British Labour Party - had on the figures or their expectations in terms of what they hoped to do with their policies. Will the Government undertake to give us the figures spokesperson to spokesperson, in confidence?

See this speech in context