John Bruton
Ceist:5 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if he will make a statement on the official engagements he undertook on his visit to Galway in August 2000. [19239/00]
Ceisteanna–Questions. - Official Engagements.
Joe Higgins
Ceist:6 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Taoiseach if he attended any official engagements in County Galway during the summer recess. [21138/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 6 together.
I undertook three official engagements on my two visits to Galway during the summer recess. On Saturday, 8 July I attended St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, to participate in its bicentenary celebrations. On Tuesday, 1 August, I performed the official opening of a new office for Bruce St. John Blake, Solicitors, and on Wednesday, 2 August, I attended the formal announcement of the Bank of Ireland's sponsorship of the Special Olympics which will be held in Ireland in 2003.
How does the Taoiseach do it?
(Dublin West): How does the Taoiseach distinguish between what is an official function of his office and what is not? Are there guidelines and criteria which govern this area? For example, when the Taoiseach sits in the Fianna Fáil marquee at the Galway Races like a feudal sheikh in his tent and greets the millionaires and rich and powerful people who enter—
The Deputy is proceeding to make a statement.
(Dublin West):—is he engaging in an official function?
Damn right he is.
Did he get a receipt?
(Dublin West): Does he believe that, in view of people's revulsion at the cronyism that has developed between leading politicians and the representatives of big business and corrupted Irish politics and the planning process—
The Deputy should confine himself to questions.
(Dublin West): —presiding at the Fianna Fáil marquee at the Galway Races, as Taoiseach, is arrogant in the extreme and an insult to the Irish people? Does he not agree that it would be better to locate Fianna Fáil's plush marquee in the middle of some deprived working class communities where he could listen to the views of ordinary people who do not have the type of access rich millionaires have to him and his Ministers?
The Galway Races are not an official function. However, the event to announce sponsorship for the Special Olympics which I attended on the same day was an official engagement.
Was the Taoiseach present in the tent at the Galway Races? Was there not a touch of Las Vegas about the place that day, given that everyone with money gravitated towards that tent? Will the Taoiseach comment on that?
Was the Deputy excluded?
The Taoiseach's predecessor once made an appearance in a tent in Libya.
I was with him.
That was not the Taoiseach's most brilliant move.
Was it an official engagement?