asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce what was the approximate expenditure on secretarial help for the Committee on the Constitution up to the date of the appearance of the interim report; how many copies have been printed; and the cost of such printing.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Constitution Committee Expenditure.
48.
The approximate expenditure on secretarial help was £3,600; five thousand copies of the report were printed and the cost of printing and paper was about £960.
Was it worth while?
It was.
Does the Minister agree that a good deal of the expenditure could have been saved if they had been aware of what the Government intended in regard to the abolition of proportional representation?
I am glad that the Deputy asked that. There has been a good deal of misrepresentation in this regard and I want to say, first of all, that the propriety of members of the Committee disclosing or purporting to disclose what went on inside the Committee is open to some question. For example, should I discuss publicly the attitude taken by Deputy Sweetman in regard to single seat constituency as disclosed in free discussions in the Committee? I do not think I should. I want to assert, firstly, that no spokesman on behalf of the Government has said or implied that the proposals brought forward by the Government arose out of the report of the Committee. Secondly, I want to say every member of the Committee knows that that is the position because I indicated to the Committee that such proposals were likely to be under consideration and I made strenuous efforts to have the report brought forward. Thirdly, and most important. I assert that neither Deputy Seán Lemass nor any other Fianna Fáil member of that Committee at any stage stated that he was against the straight vote.
Arising out of that report, may I say this to the Minister for Industry and Commerce? The minutes of the tenth meeting of that Committee which contain a paragraph following a statement by Deputy Seán Lemass, a statement acquiesced in by the Minister as chairman of the Committee, showed that what I said was true and what the Minister said is not true. I challenge him to publish the minutes of the tenth meeting.
I assert that that statement is not correct. What Deputy Sweetman is trying to do is to mislead the people into thinking that Deputy Seán Lemass or anybody else said he was against the straight vote when in fact what he was trying to say was that Deputy Seán Lemass may have expressed some views about the political advisability at that particular time of the straight vote.
Call the Committee together and the Committee will direct that the minutes be published.
The question relates only to expenses.
I do not hear any voice over there in support of the Minister. You are leaving him out on a limb.
We have complete confidence in each other.
Publish the minutes of the tenth meeting and everybody will see where I stand and where the Minister stands.
We could have economised on this Committee. A lot of meetings were held but matters were not decided on finally. If the Government at the start had announced their intention of abolishing PR, it would have saved us £3,000 and a lot of wasted time.