Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Can he give me a personal assurance that in future the woman in question will not be, as she describes herself at the moment, sidelined, ostracised or alienated in her job? She apparently feels so at the moment because of the pressures from above.

I am concerned about the fact, and I would be interested in the Taoiseach's views on this, that the Department of Finance at the time was so extraordinarily bullish. Was it simply parroting the optimistic views of its political masters because that is what it felt was its brief? I would be concerned that is continuing today. Specifically, the Department of Finance must be the only economic barometer in the world which is still saying that the Irish growth rate will be 1.3%. No one else takes that view.

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