asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if his attention has been called to the statement which the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance is reported in the Press to have made at Boherboy on last Sunday, that the Cork County Council will be abolished if its constitution is not changed by the forthcoming local government elections; and if the Minister is in a position to state if the Parliamentary Secretary made this pronunciamento ex cathedra; and, if so, if it is intended to carry out the policy thus enunciated.

I have no knowledge of any such statement having been made by the Parliamentary Secretary. The latter part of the question does not therefore arise.