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

I remind Deputy McDonald that this jurisdiction has a Government and that this House facilitated its formation unlike Northern Ireland, which has been without a government for two years, a record length of time. The people of Northern Ireland have no voice in any democratic forum because of very wrong decisions that were taken.

The Taoiseach will remember that he repeatedly said that everything needs to be branded as coming from the Government and that the extraordinary amount of attention paid to promoting himself and his colleagues is important because people need to understand that it is the State that is helping them. He then identified the expansion of childcare as a particular priority for Government publicity. In this respect, is the profile the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is giving herself regarding initiatives such as the Government-funded website, affordablechildcare.ie, acceptable? This website is headlined with a photograph of the Minister whose introduction implies that every support for childcare was created in the past 14 months. In addition, there is not the slightest mention of the Government or indeed the Oireachtas, which applied the pressure that delivered much of the new funding. Is this good or acceptable practice? Can the Taoiseach confirm to the House that Independent Ministers are subject to the same standards of oversight and accountability as those who belong to a party?

In the same vein, it has become a regular occurrence that public bodies are being requested to delay announcements and grants until a Minister is available to claim credit. While it has always been the case that a ministerial presence at an announcement can be helpful, it has been suggested to me that there are cases where the efficient running of programmes is being impacted by a loud demand from the centre of Government that nothing happen until the politicians are ready. Can the Taoiseach assure the House that this is not the case?

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