Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 1: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the role played by civil servants in his Department in the preparation of the document entitled Keeping Ireland Working: The Next Steps Forward; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15709/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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This is a long reply. My advisers and I prepared the Fianna Fáil enterprise policy document entitled Keeping Ireland Working: The Next Steps Forward. Other than the engagement by my advisers, I did not ask any civil servant working in my Department to become involved in the preparation of the document nor did any civil servant of my Department become involved in the preparation of this policy document.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Clear evidence exists with regard to these matters which was brought to the attention of the Minister and the Taoiseach by the leader of Fine Gael in recent days. It is clearly marked on the document released last week that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment was involved in some way in drawing it up. It is for this reason and because the Minister engaged civil servants in political matters in the past that I brought this matter to his attention again. It is not acceptable to bring the Civil Service into the political arena. All sides of the House respect civil servants for the work they do as part of the permanent Government. Evidence suggested to us that the Minister again engaged civil servants in political activity.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I sincerely ask the Deputy to withdraw the allegations. It is pathetic and illustrative of a bankruptcy of ideas that the Deputy must descend to this as is the idea his party leader would raise this matter of a computer glitch. My advisers formulated this document and sent it via electronic mail. If Fine Gael's super-sleuths examined it more closely, they would have seen the initials of the person concerned.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is getting complacent.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is unfair and the allegation should be withdrawn. It is like Forrest Gump claiming he found the files on Nixon. It is pathetic and ridiculous. I must take issue with the idea that Deputy Hogan would table a priority question on something he knows to be complete nonsense, and I know from his demeanour that he knows it to be so.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I do not know that.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I must also take issue with his reference to "previous issues" by which he obviously means the technical briefing an official from the Department attended in the context of the groceries order. The Government corresponded with the Standards in Public Office Commission on this matter. As part of subsequent ongoing correspondence, a letter was sent to the Taoiseach from the Standards in Public Office Commission which provides important clarification. I will not read the entire letter which is dated 17 November 2006. It states:

In the light of its view that technical briefings by civil servants should be provided on an all-party basis, it notes your reference to the provision of such briefings on request to members of any or all of the parties.

In particular, it notes the advice you have given to Ministers and Ministers of State in respect of the provision of briefings by civil servants to a group of members set up by a parliamentary party to deal with a particular issue relevant to the briefing being provided. The Standards Commission considers that the provision of briefings by civil servants at parliamentary party committee meetings in the circumstances envisaged in your letter is consistent with their obligations under the Civil Servants' Code of Standards and Behaviour. However, it is of the opinion that attendance at such meetings should only occur where the Secretary General or Head of Office considers it appropriate.

With regard to the groceries order briefing, all of this was fulfilled. The Secretary General of the Department approved the presence and attendance of the civil servant, just as at other times when I and Deputy Hogan's party leader had briefings from the Health Service Executive and various parliamentary parties were also briefed by the National Treatment Purchase Fund. There is nothing wrong with this.

This did not involve using civil servants for political purposes and it is wrong of Deputy Hogan to state it did. This represents smear tactics of an unseemly kind and Deputy Hogan is dragging in innocent independent people. I did not want to end our last Question Time with this. I answered the question factually at the beginning and Deputy Hogan continued to make these baseless allegations. They should be withdrawn.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I do not have a notion of withdrawing what the evidence suggests, which is that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment was involved in some way in drawing up documentation for political purposes which led to the launch of the document last week.

An unprecedented full meeting of the Minister's parliamentary party——

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It was not a full meeting.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I know the Minister sees nothing wrong with this. For the past hour and a half we listened to two Cabinet Ministers, the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, and the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, seeking the approval of the Oireachtas for commission of investigation inquiries. I applaud them for doing so. Nobody seems to take responsibility for much, particularly the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Deputies:

Deputy Hogan must ask a supplementary question. We are running out of time on this question.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I wish to make a comment. I did not want to bring this unsavoury matter to the attention of the House. However, it happened before. Will the Minister undertake that during the next three weeks he will observe the type of political demarkation standards we expect to see whereby the political head of a Department and the Civil Service will be able to do their business at arm's length?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I resent very much the implication in Deputy Hogan's question and reject it out of hand. I have absolutely no intention of giving any credence to baseless smear tactics from the Fine Gael Party. This is pathetic and ridiculous.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Minister will use the Civil Service.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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An adviser under the Acts and codes is quite entitled to assist a Minister late at night or at whatever time. Deputy Hogan knows this as does everybody. We are discussing an electronic communication from an adviser to a Fianna Fáil Party official as part of preparation of a document. If one presses "file" and then "property" one sees the author. This is what we are discussing.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Slippery standards.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Hogan is making a big song and dance pretending and creating the aura that civil servants were involved when he knows full well that no civil servants were involved.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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It happened before.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It did not happen before. The Standards in Public Office Commission in its letter to the Taoiseach in November confirms my point that we are quite within the parameters of what is contained in the letter. It is unseemly of the Deputy to do this and he should withdraw it.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I have no intention of doing so.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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He is casting aspersions on people and he should not do so. It brings politics into disrepute.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Do not get into that.

Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Twomey is a Johnny-come-lately to the blueshirts.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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We are properly briefed.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I was able to read a newspaper when Charlie Haughey was around and it has not changed much since then with you lot.