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

Why all this choreography and orchestration by the Commission on a major issue that is of significant importance to a member state? Does it suggest a contemptuous attitude on the part of the Commissioner towards the Irish Government? Apart from the issues, there should have been no great difficulty in alerting a government that a serious decision and an announcement of figures were coming down the line so that the government in question might be ready to respond. One gets the sense that the Commissioner had a certain performance to give last week and that the normal procedures applicable in a situation of this scale did not apply.

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