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

Yes, but the Government is not changing that fundamental point.

I am just trying to get clarity. There is a lot of smoke. All of this was said three and a half years ago and the performance did not match the rhetoric - that is the point I am making. How do we know that now, following today's announcement, it is going to be any different for the next year and a half? Clearly, some Ministers ignored completely the principles outlined by the Taoiseach, particularly the Ministers for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Environment, Community and Local Government, which more or less ignored what the Government was claiming it was doing with public sector appointments. Would we be better off abolishing the committee? Does the Taoiseach think there is any point in it meeting?

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