Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Does the Minister agree that this is a defining moment in our economy and our society? The social partnership that has been the cornerstone of progress for more than 20 years is being jettisoned when it suits the greedy requirements of one company.

It appears from last night's edition of "Questions and Answers" on television that the Irish Ferries route to the bottom has the support and influence of powerful people in bank boardrooms. Is it enough that the Government is seen to be all over the place? Nowhere was that more evident than on the programme last night when the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, was caught out with two mutually contradictory positions. He ended up looking like a salmon gulping for air in an illegal net.

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