Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Is this the best the Taoiseach can do to try to maintain the credibility of the scientific community and the Government? Did the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, offer to take Mr. McSweeney or was he asked to do so? May we analyse the process by which the appointment was made because it is important to know where it starts and finishes given that a great deal of public money as well as Ireland's credibility and that of its scientific community are at stake? How can scientists advising on research in the fields of energy, marine, communications and other technologies have confidence in a person who was effectively removed from a position on the basis of false qualifications? This is an important issue.

The Tánaiste lectures us on competition day in and day out. Where lies her credibility on the issue of competition when a word from a former leader of the British Labour Party is sufficient to make an appointment? That really takes the biscuit.

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