Question No. 21 on to-day's Order Paper arose out of a discussion which took place last week on a Supplementary Estimate introduced by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance. In the course of that discussion, and before the House gave approval for the amount sought, I asked the Parliamentary Secretary to give me some information especially in relation to one of the sub-heads which appeared in that Supplementary Estimate—the sub-head in question being D.1. I got the impression, from the replies which I received on that occasion, that the Parliamentary Secretary was endeavouring to conceal from me and from the House information that I thought I, as a member of the House, was entitled to get.
I recognise that, in certain cases, a Minister or Parliamentary Secretary may ask for approval without briefing himself as completely as would be necessary in order to give all the information that might be sought. That was a possibility, following the discussion here on Thursday last. When the House had divided on the particular Supplementary Estimate, I decided deliberately to place on to-day's Order Paper a question, giving the Parliamentary Secretary and his office an opportunity of setting out the items, or the principal items, covered by the amount which he had asked on that occasion.
The amount in question is a small one: it was only a matter of £15,000 out of a total of well over £100,000. In the course of the cross-examination that went on here, I gathered from the Parliamentary Secretary that £4,500 of that £15,000 represented expenditure abroad in the offices of our representatives and was caused largely by devaluation. But when I came to press him for information as to how and on what and where the balance of this sum was being spent, no information could be obtained. In his reply to-day, for some mysterious reason, some reason completely unknown to me, he takes up the attitude of following the line he pursued on Thursday. I do not know whether that is in order to justify his lack of knowledge and lack of information at the time of the particular Estimate, or whether it is an attempt to conceal from us information to which we are entitled.
Where is the use in the Parliamentary Secretary trying to make me believe that it is impossible to give information as to the actual location of the furniture, fittings and utensils represented by £10,500? How could the accountant in the Office of Public Works prepare the Supplementary Estimate unless he knew where this additional material was required? If this House means anything, in legitimate discussion on a matter of this kind, where public funds are concerned, surely the person responsible, in asking the approval of the House, should be able to say on what the figures are based?
There is no point in my reading the reply I received to-day. It is a continued attempt to conceal the information from me. The Parliamentary Secretary claims that it is difficult or impossible to give it. That is a contention I cannot accept for the reason I have stated. There is, and there has been for some time past, a growing tendency here on the part of Ministers, especially in so far as members of Fianna Fáil are concerned, to conceal, to use, I suggest, Question Time, which is designed in an institution of this kind——
