Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

On what the Minister said with regard to the fairness with which he will deal with all representations to him, I remind him of what he said in the House. At, Official Report, 7 April 2004, vol. 176, col. 276, he said:

It is only a short time ago that Senator Ulick Burke was strongly critical in the House of the proposals of the Government to change the governance of the dormant accounts. He was loud in praise of the concept of independent statutory boards keeping things away from politicians. One can imagine my utter amazement when last week I received a letter from the same Senator Burke requesting funding from me, under the dormant accounts scheme, for an application from his constituency.

. . . .It would appear that Senator Ulick Burke has a major problem with overt political controls operated in a fair and transparent manner, but has no problem with covert political interference.

The Minister said that in response to representations I made to him and it now rings hollow when he comes in here and says he will treat all representations equally. If he can stand by that statement and then say what he did tonight, I am in complete agreement with Senator Ryan.