Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It is clear that the Opposition parties do not care to scrutinise the substantial vested interests operating in this area.

Deputy Kenny spoke about this country's economic position. As someone who has been sitting on the Government benches for some time, I have often heard Opposition Deputies saying that the successful stewardship of the economy by several recent Governments has been entirely due to international factors. However, Deputy Kenny told us this evening that we should ignore international factors. He suggested that all this country's economic difficulties can be laid at the feet of the Government. The truth lies in between, of course — we must study and apply our intelligence to the international factors before responding intelligently to those factors over which we have control.

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