Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

A bit like the Obamas, there is apparently a rift at the heart of this marriage of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Ministers barely being seen together this week. The Tánaiste said earlier that process matters. Can he confirm, with regard to the Government's so-called housing tsar, that Mr. Brendan McDonagh is the Government's preferred candidate, as the Minister, Deputy Browne, said on the radio? Will Mr. McDonagh's appointment go through an appropriate public appointment process? Does the Tánaiste stand over this, and does he think this is an appropriate way to run Government? Will the salary amount to the purported €430,000? I think this amounts to a gouging of the taxpayer. I thought Fine Gael, in particular, was supposed to be a prudent guardian of the public purse.

See this speech in context