asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will state, with reference to the grant of £10,000 to the Irish Council of the European Movement, what conditions were laid down by him for the spending of the money by the council.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Council of the European Movement.
16.
The grant in question is being made on condition that it be used by the Irish Council of the European Movement for the purpose of disseminating factual information about the European Communities with particular reference to our application for membership. It is also subject to the council furnishing duly audited accounts.
Would the Minister agree that this money will be used solely for pro-Common Market propaganda and would he consider making a grant available to other groups who are making the case against entry to the Common Market?
As I have said, the grant is given for the supply of accurate information. If that is regarded as pro-Common Market propaganda, that may be an accurate depiction of the effect of the supply of accurate information, but it was never intended to give money for a propaganda campaign.
Did I understand the Minister to say "factual" information or "accurate" information?
Factual information.
Is the Minister familiar with the material being put out by the group financed with this £10,000? Has the Minister seen the material they are putting out?
Yes.
Can the Minister by any stretch of the imagination describe it as factual information? It is perfectly obvious it is propoganda of the most tendentious kind.
This is a speech. Speeches should not be made on questions.
The Minister is using public funds to brainwash people. By no stretch of the imagination could this be described as factual information.
I do not agree. The Deputy has a carefully prepared method of making assertions but that does not necessarily lend any truth to them. Calling this information is, to use Deputy Cruise-O'Brien's phrase, an old trick. The main grumblers all the time were the Labour Party. They complained we did not tell them. We set up all sorts of machinery to give them information. Now they say this is not information—it is propaganda.
So it is.
Call it what you like. We leave it to the good sense of the public to decide which it is.
The Minister has given money to enable people to give out propaganda.
It is information and that is what the public need. I think it is a very necessary giving out of information.
(Interruptions.)
Order. Question No. 17.