Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

I too have a speech drawn up but I will move away from it. I was sitting in my office listening to the debate - as do all Deputies - to keep in touch with the debate before the time for my contribution. A Labour Party Deputy referred to this motion as a leprechaun motion. He spoke about black shoes and golden buckles and so on. He reminded me of Bertie Ahern when he was in my county of Donegal when he was challenged on the wisdom of the economic crisis and he referred to suicide. Now, Bertie Ahern is rightly damned. My warning to Government Deputies, in their arrogance and with their huge majority, is to very careful about statements like that at this time as they could come to bite them on the backside at some stage in the future.

I will e-mail a copy of this report from the Centre for Public Inquiry entitled, The Great Corrib Gas Controversy, to all Labour and Fine Gael Deputies. I challenge them to read it. It is a damning indictment of Government policy over the years. It is a very comprehensive report. The Centre for Public Inquiry was taken out by the political establishment, working with the media establishment, in order to block it from getting under the skin of what we all now know led to this economic catastrophe. There are very serious lessons for Labour Party Deputies in particular who would share many of our values. They should not come into the House to refer to a leprechaun motion. It is clear that the Government moved away from what were shaping up to be very good policies in the 1970s to set up a State oil and gas company to implement the promise of the 1916 Proclamation and the words of James Fintan Lalor and to start to do something right by the people. At one stage, the Norwegian Government was going to assist in that process. Somehow we moved from that approach in the 1970s through to Ray Burke's giveaway, his selling out show, to Bertie Ahern's continuation of that policy.

This was the agenda to the point that compulsory purchase orders were given in the interests of private companies. Compulsory purchase orders are meant to be used in the public interest, where private land is subservient to the public interest. Here was a compulsory purchase order introduced in the interests of private companies in order to make a profit in this country. We then wonder how we ended up in this economic mess with that type of culture. This was the prevailing culture. I do not need to remind the Deputies in this House of Ray Burke as he sat on the other side of the Chamber and gave all the assurances and how his political legacy now reads. This is the man who stood over the transition from the possibility of a State company to a wholesale selling of our resources. It ended with five, decent, honourable, salt of the earth men being locked up in jail for standing up for their rights. They were vindicated eventually by An Bord Pleanála. This is not leprechaun politics; this is a Sinn Féin party with an enhanced strength standing up for the interests of the communities we represent. I was privileged to go down to west Mayo.

I was ashamed to see private security officers and gardaí facilitating the destruction of a beach to allow a pipeline to be laid by a private company. Some of those security personnel have had interesting journeys in their lives since then. That is what we have. It is a shame and a scandal. It is part of the culture that led us to economic catastrophe. It was remarkable to hear the new Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, speaking last night. With the arrogance of his Government's big majority, he said it would be wrong to change retrospectively the tax arrangements that are in place for Shell. He asked what message it would send to international investors. If that is the approach of those trying to negotiate a better deal with the EU and the IMF - God help Ireland if it is - what chance do we have?

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