Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At around 3 o'clock today, I received a copy of the supplementary Order Paper on which the motion I speak on appeared. There were two suggested amendments on it, the first from Deputy Dessie Ellis which contained a constructive contribution to the debate. The second was from the Minister of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, which tried to make some claim to be visionary but quickly collapsed into mendacious mediocrity - all noise and no substance. It has become a habit at this stage from that quarter. We are used to the Government's approach on matters involving inequalities or people being driven from the centre to the periphery of society. They are a common theme of this Government. The Minister's written counter motion could have been written in a matter of seconds. We also have no doubt that we could have written the same script. In its pattern of speech, the Government continues to blame the previous Government. In the past 24 hours, we have heard several Government Ministers and Deputies attempt to do so. The people might have hoped that now, in the twilight of its five years in office, the Government might take a scintilla of responsibility for the consequences of its own choices in Government.

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