asked the Taoiseach (a) which member of the Government has responsibility for the Government Information Services; and (b) whether it has been the practice that the Government Information Services did not officially issue statements, even on behalf of Ministers, which were polemical in the party-political sense.

The information requested by the Deputy is as follows:

(a) the Taoiseach,

(b) yes.

I do not wish to make a mountain out of a molehill but in the light of the Taoiseach's frank reply will he comment on a statement issued formally by the Government Information Services on 10 October in which the leader of the Labour Party and the leader of my party, without even the courtesy of as much as a "Mr." or "Deputy" before their names are accused of mock concern about job creation, of seeking to blind the public by spurious arithmetic——

That is a separate question.

——and saying that every parent and young person should know clearly that the only alternative offered by the Opposition was the dole queue or emigration? Apart from the peculiar unsuitability of that riposte from that Minister, would the Taoiseach not agree that that is an unseemly statement for the Government Information Services to have issued?

I could reply to that very effectively but I accept that I would be out of order.

Question No. 2.