When the jobs initiative was announced, the Taoiseach and the Government decided not to publish any supporting documentation on the impact of the €1.8 billion raid on personal pensions. This was a direct reversal of the policy that had been pursued for over a decade, whereby all background papers on revenue matters were published on-line. With other members of my party, I repeatedly asked the Taoiseach to provide briefing material concerning this attack on pensions before putting the measure through the House. On 11 May he said to me "if there is any outstanding information the Deputy seeks, it will be provided for him, because there is not anything secret here." Nothing was provided; discussions were cut short and the measure was forced through the House. It has now emerged that the Taoiseach was informed in April by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, that the levy could have extremely negative impacts. She told him well before the levy was announced that it could incentivise or force some pension schemes to close. She also told him that it would disincentivise retirement savings and have negative long-term implications for pensions policy. A Department of Finance briefing that he received expressed concerns about the solvency of some funds. It stated the policy the Government was considering "could seriously undermine the pensions sector". This extremely serious information suggests the actual cost of the attack on private pensions will be very different from that claimed by the Government. Why did the Taoiseach decide to keep this information secret until after the measure had been pushed through the Dáil?

I received a routine letter from the Minister, setting out her views on the impact on her Department. The Deputy's allegation that information was kept secret is without foundation. As Deputy Martin will be aware, we live in a democracy. The Government is entitled to make decisions about how it might progress matters that are of interest to the people. Clearly, the mess the Government inherited in respect of unemployment and the economy generally, warranted a focus on restoring confidence to the indigenous economy.

There was technical advice from the Pensions Board. The Government decided to impose a levy of 0.6% on the pensions industry for four years as a temporary measure bringing in €450 million a year which will be spent directly on focused areas where employment can be created. As a consequence, the Government altered its decision on VAT with impact directly on the hospitality sector and the labour intensive industries, on the travel tax and on halving employers' PRSI. These are measures within the jobs initiative that will have a direct impact.

Deputy Martin's allegations of subterfuge and issues being kept from people are entirely groundless. Any individual, Minister or Department can have views on Government proposals and the Minister for Social Protection, in writing a letter expressing concerns about possible impact on her Department, acted quite normally.

That is not the case. Sometime soon the Taoiseach will have to start taking responsibility for the decisions he has taken.

The Taoiseach was warned——

All the Taoiseach's promises will come back to haunt him.

——by the relevant Minister and by officials that this levy could have a serious negative impact on personal pensions. The Taoiseach decided to reverse a decade old procedure and he withheld this information from the public until he had pushed the levy through. That is a fact.

I have asked three times in this House for the Taoiseach to publish all background material on the pension levy. He decided not to do that. It took freedom of information requests to get that information out at the weekend. I have had to put down three freedom of information questions to different Ministers to try to get the background to this decision. The Taoiseach should not try to pass this off as some routine labour protection measure.

Could we have a supplementary question?

The Taoiseach knew what I asked at the time, and he decided not to release the material.

In essence, the Taoiseach has not told me today. He did not answer the question I asked. Why did he ignore the warnings of the Minister for Social Protection and officials? Will he publish all materials pertaining to this decision? The Taoiseach covered up on this deliberately.

The IMF are not here.

I bet Deputy Martin is sorry the previous Government cut back on the Freedom of Information Act.

The Taoiseach to respond, please.

Can Deputy Martin imagine what he would have learned if he had left it as it was?

If they had not cut back on the Freedom of Information Act in the beginning, Deputy Martin probably would have received a much more exhaustive response.

I asked the Taoiseach here.

It did not fall down the back of a radiator, that is for sure.

Parliamentary accountability.

I recall that the then Minister, Deputy Martin, time and again on this side of the House, and particularly at the Joint Committee on Health and Children where he denied any responsibility for not reading his brief——

Come back to this question.

——about geriatric care for elderly people in nursing homes——

It cost €111 million.

——stated to the entire world that he had no responsibility and he was blameless for the extraction of what was almost €1 billion at the time.

The Taoiseach is running from the question.

Deputy Martin came in here on the first day and stated he had no interest in Punch and Judy shows in here.

Will the Taoiseach answer the question?

I just want information.

I am sure he is interested in a jobs initiative that will result in at least some employment in his constituency. There are people in Cork South-Central to whom one can validly state that if Deputy Martin had his way, this jobs initiative would not take place at all.

We make no apology for having made a Government decision to impose a temporary levy on the pensions industry.

On pensioners, not the industry.

No less a personality than Deputy Ross at the back pointed out constructively that there is a great deal of fat in this system and as a consequence, the Minister for Finance has written to the industry.

If Deputy Martin came up with some constructive suggestions, they might well be listened to. His allegation that there was a cover-up here is absolute and utter balderdash.

It is not. Will the Taoiseach publish the material?

I call Deputy Adams.

The Taoiseach is covering up.

Balderdash.

Could I have some order for Deputy Adams, please?