Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Tánaiste told us this is a land of boom and bloom and milk and honey. She outlined all the good she is doing for the health service. We hope she is doing good work but, nine years later, the fact that the hospital service is causing such grief to her Fianna Fáil colleagues that they are disowning her and saying these issues would not arise if a Fianna Fáil Deputy was in charge is evidence of the reality.

The Tánaiste plucked insurance from the sky and asked us to look at how she had reformed that issue. In May 1997, I was a given the report of a working group chaired by the former director general of the Federated Union of Employers, Dan McAuley, which recommended the establishment of what is now the PIAB to reduce the legal costs of insurance claims. That recommendation was finally implemented six years later. The Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, sat on the report until they were forced to act because of the outcry about the price of insurance, which was uneconomic for businesses and unaffordable for young drivers.

Tonight is the opportunity for the 16 Deputies whose concerns about the performance of this Government caused them to briefly revolt and whose suggestions for policy innovations were rejected at parliamentary party meetings.

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