Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I know that people were upset, angry and confused. In fairness to the previous speaker, she was absolutely right — that is a fact. I was quoted in The Irish Times as making such a statement, so I must have said it, because The Irish Times would not report anything that was not true. I went about my business, and instead of taking a stand similar to that of my colleague, which has now been highlighted — I have no problem with that colleague — I and others stayed on the battlefield and worked away within the system. We got a message across to Government and to the Minister that this decision had caused many problems. I am on record as acknowledging it caused anger, confusion and upset. I am glad that changes were made following various meetings of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party and other interventions by colleagues. That is as it should be. It is important that we continue to understand that this is our role and we should not be afraid to carry it out. There is a myth, which I must disprove once again, that if one is on the Government benches one does not have a role to play. I do not want to rile my colleagues, but as I have said before, I would be just as happy, the odd time — not too often, but the odd time — to be on the Opposition benches so I could say anything I wanted.

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