asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware that most local authority councillors throughout the country who are electorally responsible for the local authorities programme at local level do not receive, as a matter of course, his Department's quarterly bulletin on housing statistics and if he will arrange to have all local authority councillors placed on the mailing list to ensure that they receive a copy of the bulletin.

A copy of the bulletin is sent to each county and city manager. Where local election representatives so request, it is open to the local authority to purchase copies from the Government Publications Sale Office. It is not considered that the Department should produce and distribute to individual members of local authorities about 1,350 extra copies of the bulletin every quarter.

I might add that any Member of the Oireachtas can be put on the mailing list, on request.

Would the Minister accept that it is members of those authorities who are most directly affected? Will he indicate to the House what the cost would be of circulating four times a year a duplicated document to an extra 1,300 people?

I have not got the costing but I can assure the Deputy, having been a member of a local authority for many years up to last December, any time I requested from my county council a copy of this bulletin there was no problem. They issued it.

The Minister's reminiscences of local authorities are of interest, no doubt, to the House but I asked him a specific question. The Department have seen fit to refuse the request. Was the refusal to do so based on cost? If it was can the Minister tell us what the cost factor is?

I have not the cost factor but we had no complaints.

With all due respect to the Minister, he has refused to do it and it seems to be based on cost.

It is not based on cost.

What is the reason then?

Any member of a county council who asks a secretary or manager for that is facilitated.