Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle very much. Tax breaks for developers were announced this week. We will also be dealing this week with the addition of three new Ministers of State to the bloated ranks of baby Ministers. I was expecting to see Bertie Ahern in the chair there today. It is a case of back to the future, with tax breaks for developers and a boom in baby Ministers and Ministers of State. We had 15 Ministers of State in 2016. We had 20 in the last Government. There are 23 planned for this Government. The Minister is bringing legislation to the House tomorrow to provide for the increase in the number of Ministers of State, which is entirely unjustifiable in anybody's mind. This is a stroke and about keeping restive backbenchers on board.

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