asked the Minister for Finance if he will state (a) the total cost and (b) the average cost per question of replying to parliamentary questions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cost of Parliamentary Questions.
40.
It is not the practice to keep records of the cost of preparing answers to Dáil Questions. The variety and scope of questions and the varying amount of work entailed in furnishing replies preclude the formulation of any realistic estimates of the type sought by the Deputy.
I am not surprised at the answer I got because my question must have been edited. I asked the Minister to give the cost from the beginning of the present Dáil session to date. Surely it should not be beyond the bounds of possibility to add up the total number of questions in one month and to find out the cost of replying to them. A similar question was asked in the British House of Commons recently and it was answered there. I will table this question next week again and put it down in the form in which I originally tabled it. I would like to get a reply to it.
Would the Deputy say what is the purpose of the question?
The purpose of the question is to get information. It is the right of every Deputy to ask a question. I have asked questions myself and will continue to do so. If the answer to my present question was £30 or £40, then I feel that I could answer some questions myself for the price of a telephone call costing 1s 6d. Some people ask questions in order to get publicity.
Will the Minister give specifically the price of the two questions which the Deputy will have asked? I presume that on average they will cost the same as everybody else's questions.
Has Deputy Kitt got the prize for economy in the matter of asking questions in the last Dáil session? Would the Minister agree that too many matters of administration in this country are decided by telephone calls and that the more things decided by Parliamentary Question the better for administration in this country?
That is a tendentious sort of question. I have been criticised about telephone calls in the past.