Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Well, you'll recall that in 2002, Fine Gael had a very difficult election. I think I had ... I think it was 30 Deputies I had at the time. Obviously, to rebuild a party nationally takes a great deal of time and effort. So in the presentation and the preparation of programmes or proposals or issues for the Dáil and for the Oireachtas, no more than any other party, Fine Gael would consult with different groups and organisations and people around the country to canvassed ... you know, canvass views from far and wide. But, obviously, the political test whether those ... whether interest groups that meet with the political process had any sway in their individual interests are something that interested me in the sense of the greater good. I have to say that while you come across occasionally people who've a very specific focused interest group from their own agenda, it played no part in Fine Gael's wider interest. So our ... our ... you know, we had a critique year after year about what was happening in terms of the housing sector, what was happening in terms of the whole social partnership area, where year after year, the Oireachtas was completely bypassed and decisions were made away from the Oireachtas in terms of the social partnership decisions that were made by Ministers and no reference, good, bad or indifferent, to the Houses of the Oireachtas. In addition to that, you had the issue of benchmarking, to which we objected very strongly-----