There is something not too admirable about some of the people here trying to tell us that the problem is that civil servants are afraid to express their opinions. I have had the pleasure of the company of senior civil servants on many occasions, and one thing I know about them is that they are not in the least inhibited about expressing their opinions to me, a relatively insignificant member of the political system. It is ridiculous to suggest that people who have no compunction about having wonderfully lively, invigorating and fairly fundamental disagreements with me over a pint are afraid to write down their opinions and give them to Government because I might read them. Most of these people are more than happy to tell me what they think about me, about life, about everything. They do not suffer from inhibitions. These ideas are the product of a political culture, not the product of the Civil Service, and to suggest otherwise is an offensive nonsense which I hope the trade union which represents senior civil servants will demolish in the immediate future because it deserves to be demolished. This is a political measure, produced by a political party in cahoots with what used to be an independent party that has now become nothing more than a convenient adjunct of Fianna Fáil in order to do something that Fianna Fáil always wanted to do, which is to return us to the culture of secrecy.