Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

How does one follow that? The problem is that the more people such as the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern and the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, speak, the bigger the hole they dig for themselves. The Minister does not understand but people are laughing at the Government all over the country. In his performance today, the Minister made no apology nor gave any hint of eating humble pie. No mention was made of a new plan or a reshuffle. That is another example of the extraordinary arrogance he brings to politics.

People are sick of the Government, as is evident from the result it got last week. The Minister's arrogance was typified in remarks he made in a recent magazine interview. When he was asked about being Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which I would consider a rather prestigious job, he replied "It's only a job". If ever arrogance was personified in Irish politics, it is personified in the Minister opposite, Deputy Dermot Ahern. The more the people hear from the Government, without the sounds of the Opposition, the more they laugh at it and reject it. That is what happened last Friday. The sooner the Minister realises that, the sooner he can retire from that job he believes to be an ordinary job.

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