Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

It must have taken Fianna Fáil eight or nine years before the people had enough of them. It has taken the Taoiseach one year before the majority of people have had enough of the policies the Government is pursuing. The Taoiseach stated emigration is, unfortunately, part of everyday life. This is the single failure of this State and of successive Governments. People who themselves emigrated in the 1950s or the 1980s are seeing their children leave. The Taoiseach is bound to have heard the stories and know people who have loved ones and young people away across the world.

The Taoiseach pays lip service to the proposition of Government-led investment but no one really believes him. He is out of his depth dealing with these issues at the European Union summits and he has been so consistently.

See this speech in context