Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

In the midst of the most serious economic difficulty that has faced the State, described in the letter which the Minister for Finance proposes to send to the European institutions and to the IMF, as, " an economic crisis without parallel in [Ireland's] recent history", we are now being presented with a proposal that will occupy valuable Dáil time when we should be debating the economic crisis, there is a proposal to occupy Dáil time with the latest consolation prize that the Green Party wants to take with it out of Government, the proposal to have a new office of a mayor of Dublin. It is adding a degree of absurdity to the proceedings.

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