asked the Minister for Finance if his Department have engaged informants for the purpose of obtaining information about the liability of individuals to income tax, if so, the number involved, the cost involved per individual and the standard rate, if any, of payment for such informants.

The answer is in the negative.

Will the Minister comment on a Sunday Independent article quite recently which stated that a number of informers exist and that they are liable to payment at the rate of 5 per cent? Is that article correct or incorrect?

The Sunday Independent have their criteria; I have mine. They do not necessarily coincide.

Would the Minister say if any of the money earmarked in the Book of Estimates as Secret Service money is utilised in accordance with the suggestions in the question?

I have been as emphatic as I could be in saying that the answer is in the negative. I mean that very deliberately.