Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach has said that people phone to thank him but we take that statement with a grain of salt, as others would also do. The Government has sought to hijack the Dáil for a week and take over the media so that people will hear Ministers congratulating other Ministers on a wonderful job being done. They got their time but the exercise may be counterproductive. The public will see this for what it is, which is pure political spin. The Government is doing us a disservice. Is this what it meant by "democratic revolution"? Is that the setting aside of Dáil time so we can all come to listen to Ministers for hours and days on end? We will listen to senior Ministers today, the Taoiseach tomorrow and the next line of Ministers after that. Maybe there will be two weeks set aside in the autumn to discuss the budget. That seems to be what the Ministers see as the democratic revolution. It is an abuse of this House to turn it into the launchpad of a general election campaign.

I have examined the documents. There were contradictory statements in them. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, stated that the finances of the State are now in a demonstrably better position as a result of the decisions taken by the Government. The Government is congratulating itself and the Minister is nodding in agreement with his statement. That says it all.

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