Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Every time we ask these questions about the agreements between the Government and the Independent Deputies, we seem to run into the sand and we have never been able to track down where are the agreements. Nobody has ever put them on the record of the House or told us exactly what is in them. It is a bit like chasing the Holy Grail. I have come to the conclusion that there are no agreements. Every time Deputies Healy-Rae and Lowry say they have secured something for their constituency, a Minister says it was in the pipeline anyway. When Deputies Devins and Scanlan said they secured the hospital extension for Sligo, they were told it was coming anyway. The reality is that Deputies Healy-Rae and Lowry and other Deputies like them who support the Government have sold out the pensioners and their constituents and all they have in return is the pleasure of a periodic private meeting with the Taoiseach.

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