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

There is no written or formal agreement but if an informal agreement means that Independent Deputies are welcome to contact my Department for assistance then there is such an informal agreement. That does not mean that they always vote with the Government. Many of them usually do not vote with it, as Deputies would acknowledge.

There is no formal voting arrangement with Deputy Naughten. However, he is a former Government colleague and my Department is happy to provide assistance to him should he request it. Again, there is no formal agreement with Deputy Lowry but he will often give us advance notice of questions he will raise during Leaders' Questions thus allowing us to prepare a better reply. Other Deputies also do this, including Deputies Healy-Rae, Connolly and Wallace. If Deputies provide us with advance notice of questions they are going to raise in the Chamber, it obviously enables us to give a higher-quality reply and I would like to extend this courtesy to any Member of the House if he or she wishes to give 48 hours' notice of the questions he or she is going to ask.

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