Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Taoiseach a very happy and peaceful Christmas. I will do my best to ensure it is peaceful. I also wish the Ceann Comhairle a happy and peaceful Christmas, free from the cacophony of sound which often emanates from the House in his direction. I wish the Captain of the Guard, his staff and all of the officials who have been supportive of debates and committee meetings a happy Christmas.

On 12 October the Taoiseach used the Fine Gael national conference to launch a three month long media campaign, of which last week was the high point. During this time seemingly endless parades of so-called exclusive interviews and background briefings have been used to present a selective and misleading picture of the Government's actions. There will be many other opportunities to discuss these and already we are seeing key claims being exposed. With the exception of the Taoiseach's cynical and untrue statement that Ireland has not been a full member of the European Union for the past three years, he and colleagues have laboured very hard to avoid discussing the European dimension of Ireland's crisis. As it does not help with domestic party politics, the central role of the European Union in most aspects of the crisis in the past five years has been ignored. What makes this serious is that the Government is deliberately ignoring issues which are central to long-term growth in Ireland. Some of these issues are on the agenda for this week's summit and it is now clear that what will be agreed will mean that Ireland has not received a proper response to its case and that key flaws which led to the crisis will be maintained.

The Taoiseach has regularly told international audiences that every element of Ireland's problems lies with his political opponents. He let the mask slip only once when he stated in Paris last year that Ireland was the first and only country which had a European position imposed on it in the sense that there was no opportunity for the Government to do it its way, if it so wished, by burning bondholders.

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