Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge that Deputy Stanton has bona fides on this subject which I have discussed with him previously in the corridors. The Deputy repeated this evening many of the points he makes in private in regard to Dáil reform. However, I must address my remarks to the motion before the House.

Deputy Doyle stated that the saving envisaged in this motion constitutes 1,000th of what is needed, a revealing and honest point. I cannot then but wonder why we are having a three-hour debate on such a minor issue during a time of serious crisis in this country. I do not believe there are not in Fine Gael people who questioned the need for a three-hour debate on an issue on which one could make a net point in approximately ten seconds. Fine Gael could simply have made a submission to Government requesting a reduction in the number of Ministers of State from 20 to 15 and so on.

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