Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I am glad the Deputy, in his second last sentence, acknowledged that people get involved in active citizenship. As usual, I disagree fundamentally with him but he is correct that there are now hundreds of thousands of people working in our society because of Government policies. These people are not in the Bronx, Australia or London but in their own country. They are working and commuting every day and they participate in society as much as they can. Tens of thousands of people are happy in their lives.

I did not have a chance to read the statement made today by the eminent professor of the Royal College of Surgeons, who was quoted by the Deputy — it is unusual he quoted him today — but I read the results of recent research which indicates that people's attitudes to active citizenship have not changed very much in 15 or 16 years, nor has the amount of time they have available to them.

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