asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries whether in connection with the Donegal-Leitrim by-election an office notice (18/13/35) was issued on 6th November last to principal officers in his Department requesting them to furnish information regarding agricultural and fishery matters in each county.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Donegal-Leitrim By-Election.
33.
Principal officers in my Department were asked by the Department's Information Branch on 6th November last to prepare factual material on agricultural and fishery matters in the counties mentioned. Neither I nor my Private Secretary asked for this information. It was requested by the Information Branch in accordance with a long-standing practice of assembling facts in advance on matters deemed likely to become the subject of public discussion or controversy.
I should like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary if the Civil Service has become the private property of Fianna Fáil? Is that the inference to be drawn from this answer? To my knowledge this is the first time that any such notice was issued in any Department. It was headed Donegal-Leitrim by-election. May I ask the Parliamentary Secretary is the information officer in the Department of Agriculture so ignorant that he does not understand the position?
The position is that at election times, and other times also, many matters come up for public discussion and come to public notice. Many statements are made and many figures are bandied about and it is only right and proper that a Minister should be aware of the factual position. It is the job of his Department to keep him so informed. It was not asked for by either the Minister or his Private Secretary; it is provided for them, and rightly so.
I do not suggest that it was asked for by the Minister but it shows what an atmosphere exists in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries that an official would do this off his own bat. This has never happened before.
While appreciating the fine sense of anticipation on the part of public servants for the Minister, may I ask the Parliamentary Secretary what factual matters were compiled by the public servants concerned for the information officer? Could he give us an outline of those matters?
That is a separate question.
I will put down a question on this matter next week.