Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is easy to understand today the reason the Taoiseach set up an Economic Management Council and did not believe it was appropriate to bring any of the Cabinet in on his budgetary discussions. A Cabinet meeting was held yesterday and today we all learn from the Irish Independent the full make-up of the property tax the Government is proposing to introduce next week. That is remarkable because for the past few weeks it has kept that information tight, yet after one meeting, with 16 people around the table, the leaks begin again. Prior to the budget and the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas discussing the measures in the budget we are able to read that information in the Irish Independent thanks to a Cabinet member who leaked the full details of the property tax to the media. We have one Cabinet meeting and the following morning we can read the details in the Irish Independent. It is easy to understand why the Taoiseach does not trust 12 of his Ministers in terms of giving them any information because-----