Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My questions relate to the Economic Management Council. Many people are concerned that more advisers than members of Government attend and speak at this very powerful council. Fundamental questions must be asked in terms of the constitutionality of the council. Some Ministers, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, in particular, have been highly critical of the overarching role of the Economic Management Council. There is a lack of transparency around it because many budget documents which had been published automatically are now withheld because the Taoiseach has given this council the right to assert Cabinet confidentiality.

I draw the attention of the Taoiseach to a startling revelation in a recently published book, The Price of Power, by Pat Leahy in respect of the role of the Economic Management Council in a fundamental decision approximately two years ago, in which the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan-----

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