Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

——that of ensuring the Taoiseach is in this House on Thursdays. If that is the only contribution Fine Gael can make to Dáil reform or the only topic it can find to discuss in its three hours of Private Members' time, one would have to question the relevance of the party, if not the relevance of that issue. It proves to me that Fine Gael has no alternative policies to offer on issues such as education, crime, health, immigration, justice, transport because it chose to pick on this particular issue.

It is an unusual time to focus on bringing the Taoiseach into the House on a Thursday, particularly when he holds the honour and role of President of the European Council of Ministers, one which we all recognise places a great demand on his time, but one which has elevated the prestige——

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