Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy referred to something as being unprecedented. The precedent was a very strange one - a private written agreement between a Fianna Fáil-led Government and Independent Deputies which was not published or released under FOI legislation on the basis that it was an agreement with Fianna Fáil, not the Government. I assure the Ceann Comhairle that I would not engage in that sort of skullduggery. There is no such agreement of either nature. While there is no agreement or special deal with Deputy Michael Lowry or Deputy Seán Canney, they do support the programme for Government which they believe benefits the country and their constituencies. They generally vote with the Government, although they do not always vote in all divisions. They do, of course, have access to the Government in the same way all Independent Deputies who support it do. That means that they are able to raise queries and issues, often related to their constituencies, on which we try to assist.

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