asked the Minister for Finance when the final draft of the Green Paper on the economy was sent for printing; when the first draft was delivered to the Government; the number of copies which comprised the first delivery; and when the Green Paper was circulated to the press and to the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Green Paper on Economy.
27.
The final draft of the Green Paper was sent for printing on 24th and 25th September and first delivery of 200 copies of the paper in its final form was made on 27th September. Copies were laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and were circulated to Members on the same day. Proof copies, subject to corrections, were received from the printers in the afternoon of 25th September and were used for the purpose of a press briefing on the following day.
I would like to express regret, on behalf of the Minister, for any infringement of parliamentary privilege which may have occurred through proof copies being made available to the press before they were available to Members of the Oireachtas. This was not intentional and was occasioned by the tight schedule in printing the final version. The Minister has already expressed his regret to the Leader of the Opposition for the delay in sending him a copy.
Would the Taoiseach not agree that the whole manner of the formulation and presentation of this document leaves very much to be desired, and that a copy might have been given, simultaneously with a copy being given to the press, to the Leader of the Opposition?
I agree with the view expressed by the Leader of the Opposition that a copy should have been sent, and I understand that arrangements have been made to ensure that is done in future. As the Deputy is probably aware, this has always been a problem with documents released for publication: that Deputies have often found that, unless they were forwarded special copies by hand, they appeared in the newspapers in advance of Deputies receiving them in the post.
The Taoiseach could have brought a copy to Croke Park.
I was going to suggest that. He would normally expect to see me in Croke Park at the football final. He might have brought a copy along then instead of my failing to get it even in my office the next day. Is the Taoiseach aware there was no such copy in my office when I arrived on Monday morning, that it took three 'phone calls, one to the Government Information Service and two to the Department of Finance, before a copy was ultimately supplied, and that I was interviewed by Radio Éireann on the context of the documents without having even seen it? Does the Taoiseach think that is a satisfactory situation?
As I have said, the situation was unsatisfactory and I hope there will not be a recurrence.
The Consumer Bill situation was nearly as bad.
May I suggest the reason for the delay was that a sizeable slice was taken out of the Fianna Fáil economic proposals for inclusion in the document?
No. Even with printing speed it would not be possible to do that.