Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

I refer to the direction the EU is taking on services and competition. This must be seen as an indication of how the EU is thinking on this matter and how Commissioner McCreevy is thinking. This Government is ad idem with that philosophy. If the Minister is not prepared to address the concerns, we do not have a Government that will ensure the draft services directive is not passed in its current state and we must depend on other governments and other social movements within Europe to ensure the directive does not come into effect and that the necessary changes are made.

The Opposition, and my party in particular, is not confident these changes will be sought by this Government. As the Government structures its policies, it takes an approach of damning the workers. The underlying message is that profit must be sought to justify the structure of the Government's economic policies. We will not support this approach and will continue to question and harry the Government until it reflects the sentiment that exists on this side of the House and in the country in general.

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