Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

That is not the intention of this amendment. The Minister of State deliberately ignored all references to social partnership and pretended that the debate here merely concerned the relationship between the Government and the NESC. We have been debating the need to change the way in which partnership works through making it more dynamic, answerable to the people and willing to confront difficult issues. If the Minister of State thinks the Government is confronting these issues, I would ask him to look at this document. I do not believe he has read it because, if he had, he would see the sorts of challenges that face us, challenges which the Government is not addressing. The Oireachtas could have a real role in creating a more dynamic process.

The Minister of State let himself down in his reply to this debate and I wish he would reflect on the matter. There is no point in the Government sending in a Minister of State who has no capacity to make changes. He may have been given certain directions and instructed not to concede this point. If this Oireachtas operates in that manner, he is not responding adequately to the Dáil. We cannot have Ministers of State who do not have genuine authority to debate the issues put before them because that is not good enough.

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