asked the Taoiseach if his attention has been drawn to a newspaper report (details supplied) concerning a statement purported to have been made by the Government Press Secretary relating to a Dublin advertising agency on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party; if the Press Secretary made the statement referred to and if he will indicate the particular rules governing civil servants which permit action in the political field such as this.

The Government Press Secretary advises me that he commented to the reporter in question in regard to the Government and that he referred the reporter to the general secretary of Fianna Fáil for any comment on behalf of the party.

Is it a correct inference from what the Taoiseach has said that the Government Press Secretary was misreported in The Irish Press by indirect quotations as making a statement in relation to Fianna Fáil?

I asked the Government Press Secretary for an explanation following receipt of the Deputy's question. This is what he told me and I believe him.

Would the Taoiseach accept that it would be quite improper for the Government Press Secretary to make any public statement on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party?

I would not take it as seriously as the Deputy does.

Would the Taoiseach not accept that it is this lack of seriousness which has got the country into the state it is in.