asked the Minister for Education whether he has instructed civil servants in his Department not to give any information to Dáil Deputies except through his private secretary; and, if so, why.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ministerial Information Instruction.
28.
There is an instruction of long standing in the Department of Education that telephone and written representations or requests made by Members of the Oireachtas be replied to by the private secretary to the Minister or Parliamentary Secretary as appropriate. I am sure that the reason behind the instruction was to ensure that the reply would be accurate, complete and prompt.
The question of ensuring the identity of the caller arises too, of course, in relation to telephone calls.
The instruction related to all Members of the Oireachtas whether on the side of the Government or of the Opposition.
Staff of the Department have recently been reminded of this instruction.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary confirm if the Minister for Education has given a specific instruction that no civil servant is to answer any question or give any information to any Deputy on the telephone?
What has occurred is that the Minister reminded officers of the Department of an existing instruction which was in force in the period of office of his predecessor, and of his predecessor's predecessor.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary accept that the custom was more honoured in the breach than the observance and that that was better all round?
It is a Fianna Fáil rule of long standing.
I am not in a position to make a comment on what the Deputy has said or to enter into an argument on the matter.
We cannot have an argument on this matter.
This is a very important matter.
The Deputy will have an opportunity of ventilating his grievances on another occasion.
Apparently, any Deputy now making a telephone inquiry to the Department of Education must get into the queue to his private secretary. Obviously this is going to thwart the efforts of Members of this House.
Fianna Fáil should not have introduced it.
I should like to inquire if the situation now is that a Deputy with a simple query on the general subject of education may not submit it to the Department of Education just as any member of the public may?
The position is that an instruction which was in existence in the time of the Minister's predecessors is to continue in force during the present Minister's time. That is as clear as it need be.
The instruction and the practice are two entirely different things.