Special advisers – Taxpayers entitled to answers

FOR a Government that spends millions of euro on a small army of spin doctors and advisers to tart up its image, the Coalition is slow to tell the public who they are and how much they get.

For a change, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, a politician not renowned for his straight answers, sets an example of how it should be done.

In his written answer to Fine Gael’s education spokeswoman Olwyn Enright, Mr Ahern revealed the names, duties and salaries of special advisers recruited from outside the civil service working in his department.