asked the Taoiseach the nature of the understanding between the Government and Deputy Gildea; if any written agreement exists between the two parties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23689/98]
Ceisteanna—Questions. - Political Understandings.
There is no written agreement between the Government and Deputy Thomas Gildea. I have said before I do not do privileged deals with any individuals.
Deputies on all sides of the House know there is a huge selection of Government expenditure programmes, both capital and current, across the whole range of services the State provides. In the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats programme for Government, An Action Programme for the Millennium, there are proposals to increase funding for specific programmes, especially capital programmes. The Government has given priority to county roads, water and sewage treatment, education and rural development for extra resources. This will allow certain programmes to be completed more rapidly and will permit certain elements of programmes to be brought forward earlier than had been originally planned.
In my discussions with Deputy Gildea he indicated that certain issues were important to him. He has already publicy stated theses issues. It would be the intention, over the remaining life of this Government, to deal with these issues many of which are reflected in our programme for Government.
I do not believe this process will give rise to overall expenditure targets of Government being exceeded.
Was a notetaker present for the meetings or were any minutes taken of the items discussed? In the meeting in Glenties, did Deputy Gildea have any notes referring to the conversation he may have had with the Taoiseach or the Government Chief Whip?
I did not meet Deputy Gildea in Glenties.
The Deputy had a meeting in Glenties. The Taoiseach had discussions with him here.
I had one recent discussion with Deputy Gildea at which he outlined the issues he raised——
Were minutes taken of that meeting?
No, not that I know of.
Was there a one to one meeting?
No. I was accompanied by one of my staff and Deputy Gildea was accompanied by a colleague.
Would the Taoiseach not accept that if one of his staff was a civil servant or a political aide, it would be normal that a note or minutes of the meeting would be taken? That might be wise.
There may have been loose notes. Deputy Gildea gave me a copy of the statement in draft form which has not changed. This outlines the issues which he correctly states are on the long-term list of requirements for south-west Donegal. There is nothing unusual on the list. The Deputy went through the points with his colleague and stated why he believed they were important to the people. He did not ask that anything other than those issues be taken into account in expenditure in the north-west.
So a deal was done. There is a written note of the concerns.
No, there is a note.
Deputy Gildea has a statement.
He gave me a copy of the statement which has been made public.
I know. So the understanding is written down and a deal has been done.
No.
So there is no deal. Has Deputy Gildea been misled? We had the Gregory deal from the Taoiseach's predecessor, Mr. Haughey. We now have the inclusion of Kerry and Clare——
The Deputy should confine himself to a question.
This House has rights. I am trying to establish if there is a formal agreement. Deputy Gildea saw fit to announce in the media that he had a formal agreement with the Government that he would be supporting it in return for certain undertakings. The Taoiseach has stated that no formal minutes have been taken, notwithstanding Deputy Gildea's claims to have a record of the meeting.
The Deputy should ask a question.
Will the Taoiseach release the documentation or notes taken by his side in respect of the meeting and discussions he had with Deputy Gildea?
I will not do so as I am not sure what is in the note. There is no written agreement.
That is even more worrying.
There is no written agreement between the Government and Deputy Gildea. I do not do privilege deals. In a statement, Deputy Gildea set out the issues he would like to see dealt with by the Government. Hopefully, Ministers and Ministers of State will be able to achieve some of these in the normal course of dealings with issues in the regions.
Can I take it——
The Deputy should put a final question.
We are ahead of ourselves, a Cheann Comhairle.
There are a lot of questions remaining.
Can I not claim injury time from previous days?
I will allow a brief supplementary question.
We are talking about the survival of the Government which has been purchased on the basis of some undertaking with the so-called Independent Deputy for South Donegal. We saw what that survival meant last week in a Private Members' motion.
The Deputy should ask a question. He cannot make statements.
Is the Taoiseach prepared to release the documentation and the undertakings given on his behalf, directly or indirectly, to Deputy Gildea before the Deputy saw fit to make a public announcement that he would be uncritically supporting the Government?
The Taoiseach will be doing a deal with Deputy Aylward next.
Or with Deputy O'Dea.
I wish Deputy Gildea had not made that statement. The documentation is in the public domain and the commitment of the Government is to try to deal successfully with some of the issues in that region, as it is endeavouring to do in other regions. The capital pro-gramme last week included 27 per cent — a cumulative figure of 58 per cent since the Government took office. Hopefully, this will do something for south-west Donegal and every other constituency.
This is stroke politics.
Will Deputy Coughlan get some of the credit?