Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the National Lottery Bill but before I do, I would like to acknowledge the presence of Deputy Finian McGrath because I was beginning to think we did not have a functioning Opposition. Perhaps Deputy McGrath would convey a welcome to the Whips of the Opposition, of whom there are three, but none of whom has managed to man the benches in the House for the last three quarters of an hour. It is an indictment of the Opposition that we are continuously seeing Opposition benches unmanned while there are three Whips in Opposition, all of whom are probably receiving an allowance.

See this speech in context