Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has not defined what he means by equality-proofed. In so far as the consideration of the Government was concerned, all of the issues in the budget were considered in the sense of being balanced given the circumstances in which the Government finds itself and we acknowledge the challenge that many people face here. I will not legislate for Cabinet confidentiality. I have looked at this and it is clearly in the Constitution. I have referred to the Howlin judgment about the confidentiality of material transmitted to Members of the House, the consequence of which will be contained in the whistleblower legislation which is under way. The Attorney General was not consulted here. In that sense if I recall from comments made by some of the Sinn Féin Deputies, I believe its costing was done by submission of parliamentary questions as distinct from a formal set of proposals to be costed one after the other by the relevant section of the Department of Finance.

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