Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The arrogance of Fianna Fáil knows no bounds. It is an arrogance which comes from being in Government for too long - in Government for the past 14 years and for 22 out of the past 24 years. It is an arrogance which is expressed most eloquently by the Taoiseach himself and we got a fine example of it earlier this morning. That arrogance says to us that it does not matter what Fianna Fáil did, it should never say "sorry" or never admit a mistake. It is an arrogance that says that only Fianna Fáil can rule and that the Opposition is always wrong. That arrogance was brought to a new level today. We have a Government that turned an economic boom to a bust, made a most calamitous mistake in how it handled the banking crisis and refused to accept it got it wrong, and which has presided over the worst economic crisis that this country has faced. Then, in the final months of its life, it went and negotiated a bad deal with the international institutions. I suppose it is fortunate for the Government that the snow over the past week or ten days has prevented the deal from getting the kind of scrutiny it might otherwise have got. Having negotiated that bad deal, the Government has now come back to us and told us that we are all bound by it, that a new Government cannot change it and that it is done and dusted.

See this speech in context