Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

There have been very few Labour Deputies present until now for the debate. They will all come scurrying in for the vote in a few minutes. They will all be in the Chamber filling their seats but they have not been present for the debate on one of the biggest issues for the communities they represent. When they knocked on doors and met public servants, the middle classes, the lower middle classes, the working classes and those people who have been affected, they did not tell them that their party would work with Fine Gael and oversee the maintenance of this policy. I do not know if members of the Labour Party took time to read the ideological view contained in the speech of the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, repeated by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, tonight.

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