asked the Minister for Finance in respect of the years 1983 to 1987 (1) the total cost of public sector pay (2) the total cost of public servants travel and other expenses (3) the amount in each year by which public service pay and expenses rose as a percentage of the figure for the previous year and (4) the amount by which such increases exceeded the rise in the consumer price index.

I propose to circulate the information requested in the form of a tabular statement in the Official Report.

Trends in expenditure on public service pay, travel and other expenses 1983 — 1987

(a) The figures for pay represent the Exchequer-financed public service pay bill, namely, the Oireachtas, Civil Service, Gardaí, Education, Defence and Health sectors, and non-commercial State sponsored bodies. The figures exclude normal pensions and lump sum payments and those associated with the early retirement-voluntary redundancy package.

(b) The "travel and other expenses" covers travel expenses and travel-related subsistence expenses and represent the best information available from Departments.

Another hand-out.

Arising out of the Minister's reply, which was so comprehensive, could I ask him if he agrees that it is extraordinary that Deputy Desmond is acting here as shop steward for disgruntled civil servants? In every question he asked he seems to have known the internal departmental opposition to everything the Minister——

He is getting the wrong steering as well. They are setting him up.

And the people behind him are getting information from Washington.