Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have listened to many speeches in the House over the years on the appointments of Governments and reshuffles of various kinds, and this has been, from an Opposition perspective, the worst performance I have ever heard. It was based purely on the old classic attitude of everything is a failure and nothing works, and it is all regressive and anti-progress. There was not a single word from an Opposition Member, with one exception, about what should happen for the future. Deputy Finian McGrath on the Independent benches advised Ministers when they sit behind their desks for the first time to decide two or three priorities that they can go after and have a strategy and a structure to the work within their Departments. That was the only constructive suggestion made by the Opposition.

I do not know who wrote Deputy Martin's speech, but it was a classic speech that one would hear from the back of a trailer down in Newport on a wet Saturday morning when nobody wants to listen.

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