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

At least those who do agree with it as a policy are aware of it and they can form a view on it. It is not something that should be just buried away in a budget lying somewhere. We should tell the public how their money is being spent and what work the Government is doing on their behalf. If they choose to be supportive of it that is their choice. If they choose to be against what we are doing that is their choice too. This is why we are a democracy.

I fully appreciate that we have to separate Government communications from party political communications and that we need to make sure Civil Service staff do Civil Service work and political staff do political work. This is why all along I have kept merrionstreet.ieand the Merrion Street account separate from what I do in terms of my own accounts, which have no Civil Service involvement and do not involve the use of any public money.

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