Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

This point was taken up by me very vehemently at Second Stage last week. This Government has prided itself on its partnership approach to all of its dealings. Since 1987 we have had a series of three-year programmes of partnership, with various titles but all meaning the same thing, that everybody is working together. The various social pillars, including the trade unions and the farmers, are all in the partnership agreements that serve the country very well, in good times and bad. In my five years at the then Department of Public Enterprise, many near confrontations were avoided through recourse to partnership, as well as common sense and discussion.