Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I wish to share time with Deputy Penrose. Today is a good day for democratic accountability and for the people of County Meath and County Kildare. Both the Labour Party candidates, Mr. Dominic Hannigan in Meath and Mr. Paddy McNamara in Kildare, have been campaigning since well before Christmas. Both of them will welcome an opportunity now to put their cases to the electorate. It is quite clear that the Government did not want to have by-elections. It was resistant and was forced to climb down as a result of pressure from the Opposition. Despite the fact that the appointment of former Deputy McCreevy dates from July and former Deputy John Bruton from last autumn, it was necessary to have by-elections to ensure that the people of those constituencies had full representation in Parliament. However, the indication from Government was that it wanted to postpone, delay and avoid the inevitable.

I thought it ironic when the Taoiseach said that having by-elections would interfere with Dáil business. The Taoiseach, more than any other Member of this House, has tried to ensure that Dáil business does not carry on to its full capacity. Holidays have been extended and he disappears on a Wednesday. In fact, this is the Taoiseach who has no difficulty in providing Government Ministers with an extra week off to go to Cheltenham. It is somewhat rich of him to start to make an argument like this. The reality is these are important by-elections——

See this speech in context