Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

The Minister has no cards left. His colleagues over the weekend with their incredible denials embarrassed the nation and I am afraid their denials did not work. The other strategy the Minister has drawn from poker is bluff and he is the greatest proponent of bluff I have ever seen in this House. He and the Taoiseach have been bluffing for weeks now, but the bluff is not working and the Government continues to be an embarrassment to the people. They will not speak plainly or share the nation's grief with the people who elected them or tell them what lies ahead. This morning was a classic example of the Government's ineptitude when the Governor of the Central Bank felt he had an onus to come out and explain what was happening in the absence of any explanation from the elected Government.

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