Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The Taoiseach is entitled to his time and to progress the European Presidency, a role which the public recognise is bringing great prestige not only to him or the Government but to the country. That has also been recognised by the International Herald Tribune. It has recognised the Taoiseach's ability to do the job he is doing and one of its editorials states, "For all this, Ahern is the right man ... Ireland is the right man — Ireland is a rich training ground for the skill of negotiating, its relations with the US are good and the country's economic transformation is a shining example." The editorial went on to state, "It is unfortunate that Ahern has only six months", but I would add that fortunately as a Government we have many more years in which to make our mark.

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