Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to contribute to this important debate. I commend Fine Gael on putting forward this motion so that we can discuss a critical aspect of how the Government works. Under the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, there was an outrageous expansion of the Minister of State system. This represented not only a waste of public money but has also played a part in discrediting our system of governance. The public rightly questions exactly what it is that the 20 Ministers of State do. There is general agreement that the last three or five appointments were made merely to keep Fianna Fáil backbenchers content.

It is particularly disappointing that the Green Party joined and supported this grotesquely overblown, unwieldy and wasteful system of governance. I am pleased to see the Minister of State, Deputy Sargent, in the House for this debate. His evolution into a Minister of State in a Government led by the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, is one of the most pathetic sights I have witnessed during my entire time in politics. I recall all the mornings when the Minister of State stood on the other side of the House and berated the then Taoiseach and his Ministers on a range of matters.

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