Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

They were so necessary that the Government, on assuming office, immediately carried out its first U-turn, namely, to implement the same budget and provisions within the finance Bill that it had vehemently opposed. They were great men in opposition with great populist rhetoric. They made marvellous promises when standing on a soapbox in Roscommon, the back of a lorry in Castlebar or on the grounds of a barracks in Mullingar.

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