Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I am glad the boys have simmered down.

This morning we have a tale of two reports. On the one hand there is the troika's sixth review of Ireland's bailout programme, which has yet again been given to parliamentarians in the Bundestag and leaked to the media before Members of this Dáil or the public in this State have had any sight of it. On the other, there is an ESRI report which was not an ESRI report, rather a working document which has been withdrawn from the State-sponsored organisation's website. By any standards, it was a very shoddy piece of work. It was based on data from 2004 and 2005. It was not peer-reviewed internally or externally. It has been spun and used by some people to create the impression that the hundreds of thousands of people who are out of work at the moment are somehow living a gilt-edged lifestyle. I ask the Taoiseach to make clear in the Dáil that he understands that is not the case. There is no doubt that people at work are struggling to pay their bills. We know that. There is no doubt that people are struggling as a direct consequence of the policies the Government is pursuing. The Taoiseach has accused other Members of this House of abdicating their responsibilities. I want him to take responsibility for his position and for his decisions.

See this speech in context