Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

People are interested in whether their children will get a place in school this autumn. They are concerned about class sizes or their mother being left on a hospital trolley. They are concerned about the drugs misuse epidemic, now worse than it was when Veronica Guerin was murdered. They are concerned about energy resources, spiralling house prices, inflation, interest rates, neighbourhood safety, anti-social behaviour and gangland killings. How can a Government, in such disarray for the past month, address these issues? In The Irish Times this morning, I read the headline, "Ahern set to back new FF backbench group". I thought there were only 16 rebels but apparently there are 17.

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