Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is not merely the case that the Minister has failed to secure a bipartisan approach for the policy she is pursuing — she does not even have a mandate for it. One can only have genuine bipartisanship when one has an agreement on policy. It is quite rich of the Minister to ask the Opposition to support her policy when the Minister of State who was sitting beside her when she made that call yesterday, Deputy Devins, was outside the gates of this House last week protesting against the very policy on which the Minister wants a bipartisan approach.

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