Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I regard those sentiments as untrue and deplorable but, alas, not totally untypical of one or two commentators. One would think they might pay closer attention to what goes on in this House but they obviously do not as they are so dismissive. I often have the feeling that these comments are made by people who are, no doubt, brilliant journalists but they have a side that shows politicians manqués. Obviously, if they were elected to this House they would have a less dismissive attitude to what goes on here.

We do not have in this country, or in any other country that I can observe, government by assembly. The only experiment in government by assembly was in the early years of the French Revolution when there was no government, only opposition, and that was fairly disastrous. A lot of the business may be dull from a general point of view, particularly for those who live or die by TAM ratings, who need something that is relatively sensational, who like to be perverse and in a minority of one. What is the alternative to some variation on a parliamentary system of democracy? Presumably, it is some form of enlightened despotism or dictatorship. To paraphrase Churchill, the system of democracy is bad but every other system is worse. There may be a lot in that.

There is also a denigration of politics by some people, in particular those with a right wing agenda. That agenda goes roughly "the less government, the less regulation, the better". The events of the past few weeks have demonstrated that the State has a vital protective role in providing a safety net and that exaggerated market philosophy has proved to be a disaster. We should stand up for the notion of public service and not always take the view that it is inferior, inefficient and incompetent and that private provision is always better or best. Some of those who denigrate the State do it because they want to grab a share of quasi-monopoly profits.

It is important that there is an arm's length relationship between the broadcasters and Government. In case I sound as if I blame the journalistic profession, there is also the type of politician in all parties who essentially wants to suppress criticism by the media, who takes the view that the Government should take in hand RTE or this or that organ of opinion and ruthlessly sort them out. I see absolutely no merit in that philosophy. We live in a democracy of argument and debate. To be fair, one of the good things about RTE, though perhaps some colleagues may disagree, is that nobody could say it is like some of the Italian broadcast media, for instance, under the thumb of the Government, or that it is Radio or TV Fianna Fáil on all channels.

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