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

As the Taoiseach said, for nearly two decades the principle of the Department of An Taoiseach having specific procedures for contacts with Independent Deputies supporting the Government has been accepted. The current arrangement is a little unusual in that one such Independent, Deputy Lowry, keeps telling his constituents that he has an arrangement with the Government and that he is getting preferential treatment but the Government keeps denying this. The questions posed to the Taoiseach address a more novel innovation, namely, special support measures for Independent Deputies who are Ministers. Every one of them has political staff of their own so it is unclear as to why extra staff would need to be paid for from the public purse. The liaison unit to which the Taoiseach referred has three staff members. At Cabinet level none of the three Independent Ministers is part of the same electoral or even Dáil grouping so it cannot be argued that this is similar to any past arrangement for smaller parties. Is it not true that the extra staff have been put in place specifically for the Minister, Deputy Ross, and his group? What is quite interesting is that the extra staff were hired after he got a run of very bad publicity. It is a bit like the Donald Trump situation. He did not like all the negative headlines and wanted something to be done about it.

How would Shane Ross, the tireless campaigner against political costs and expenditure, have reacted to the costs that he has now imposed on the State for supporting his political grouping and for making sure that he is political squared off on every occasion? Does the Taoiseach think that Shane Ross, the great campaigner on cronyism, political costs and so on, bears any relation to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport who now needs extra political staff to shield him and to help him out when he is going through difficult and choppy waters? I ask the Taoiseach to comment on that. Does he think that some major transformation has occurred in the Minister, Deputy Ross, who was on the Opposition benches and the one who is now under the Taoiseach's shield and umbrella?

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