In the "Irish Independent" of this morning there is set out what purports to be an account of a statement made by Deputy Gorey at a meeting of the County Kilkenny Farmers' Union. It is set out under the heading, in quotation marks, "Undesirables in the Dáil," and then as a sub-heading, "Farmer Leader's Allegation." There is much of the statement with which I am not particularly concerned and which I think the Dáil need not concern itself particularly with, but I wish to quote one or two sentences from the statement and to inquire, through you, sir, whether the Deputy is correctly reported. Referring to the condition of local authorities and with special reference to the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Bill, the Deputy is reported as saying, by way of admission, that:
In a few counties bordering the mouth of the Shannon, corruption was notorious. Even in the Dáil, he asserted, they had undesirables. They heard stories of how things were done in the Dáil and how votes were cast. "Our House is not in a position to throw stones at any other House."
In view of what seems to be the rather clear implications contained in that statement, I would be anxious to ascertain as a first step whether the Deputy considers that is a correct report of what he, in fact, said.
