Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

That is where the Government is coming from. What was really interesting last night was watching the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, talk about the Six Counties. Apparently, there were bonfires burning in south Armagh, Tyrone, west Belfast and other parts of Belfast to celebrate the fact that Fine Gael at last has an interest in the people of the Six Counties. Where were they all the years when we needed them? They were imprisoning people and keeping down those who tried to do something for the people of the Six Counties. The reality, if the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, took time to educate himself, is that the people of the Six Counties are fighting to gain fiscal powers to have control over their own budgets so they can make real decisions for their communities. They are on that journey. What did we do in this State, where we had fiscal powers? We gave them away to the EU and IMF. The Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, should have a wee bit of humility when he is backing up the view of the former Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, who gave our sovereignty away.

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