Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

It promised to protect the poor and to bring accountability to the top. It is in this critical test that the Government had its greatest failure. We saw yesterday that its proposed nominee to the European Court of Auditors has been rejected by a European Parliament committee. The Tánaiste should not have proceeded with that nomination and should now withdraw it. He should realise that the days in which a Government can remove or reward officials by automatically promoting them to top jobs in Europe need to be left behind.

See this speech in context