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

The Taoiseach referred to the difference between replies to parliamentary questions and responses to freedom of information requests. The matter is very simple. In some instances, very basic requests were not answered, which is why the apologies were made. I presume the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government apologised to the Deputies concerned only because no information at all was forthcoming. That was acknowledged by the Department. With regard to the transition office established, who was on the transition team and what was the cost? What is the detail on the service level agreements, for example? These agreements were not laid before the House and we learned more about them last week in the media. This makes the House continually irrelevant and marginalises the Parliament which is catching up all the time with revelations in the media. It is not for the want of asking but because of the lack of genuine transparency or an unwillingness to volunteer the information at hand. All of the information was at hand, but it was not presented to the House over a 15-month period. The Taoiseach said during Leaders' Questions on one occasion that any question on Irish Water would be answered and that there would be no necessity for freedom of information requests. That very night the Minister of State stood up and said the complete opposite. He said the Minister would not answer questions on the entity because of something to do with the NTMA or the EMC, the economic management committee of the Cabinet.

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