Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I am a member of a political party which bravely abolished third level fees during the early 1990s. That decision, by former Deputy Niamh Breathnach, was not only brave but visionary. Where was this proposal when the Government's election manifesto was revealed on a daily basis amid great pomp and ceremony? Was it in the newspapers or on a radio or television programme? No, it was not. The Government has demonstrated, on an almost daily basis, the level of contempt in which it holds the electorate.

I remind Fianna Fáil Senators, who have the brass neck to defend this so-called review, that they should take a leaf out of the Progressive Democrats' book and look at the people who will suffer as a result of this outlandish proposal. We all know that the Minister has every intention of reintroducing fees as soon as the summer recess begins, in a pathetic PR attempt to avoid the backlash from students who will have gone abroad to work.