John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What does that mean? I think I have explained what I consider to be serious exceptional circumstances. These rules are rigid. For example, we said at one of our meetings on allowances and payments and so on that all of that system was out of date and should be looked at. We also said about ourselves that we needed to have someone to define our work for us. We needed someone to say, "this is the job one is applying for and this is how one will be paid", so that it is upfront and transparent and people can actually see and understand it and there are no grey areas here. On one side the Deputy is saying we should challenge the status quo here. That is what we do here. On the other side there is a voice saying: "What were you doing challenging the status quo?". I am trying to get a mixture of both.