Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste spoke of his confidence in the Minister but he never spoke about his party chairman's lack of confidence in him and the comments he made about him not only on local radio, but on national radio. He did not refer to the fact that the Minister, Deputy Burton, and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, who are here this evening performed Olympian gymnast standard efforts to avoid stating on air they had confidence in the Minister. It is a shame they were not in London because we would have two more gold medals to celebrate this evening. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, just about mentioned the Minister by name at the end of her speech. She pointed out all of the achievements in mental health but they are because of her. She previously referred in very good terms to her predecessor, John Moloney, and the manner in which she reverted to the tribe this evening was not fair to him because he implemented a large amount also. The achievements in the area of mental health have nothing to do with the Minister, Deputy Reilly.

The key problem for the Minister is that before the election, when he was Deputy James Reilly, the deputy leader of his party and spokesperson on health, he travelled the country and, unlike what the Taoiseach stated this evening, he engaged in a cynical campaign. He made promises in Sligo, Roscommon, Navan, Monaghan and Ennis and to thalidomide and symphysiotomy groups. He opposed the implementation of the transformation of the cancer control programme. Usain Bolt would not have kept up with the Minister in his rush to jump on trucks around the country to tell every community group he would look after it.

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