Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I can only use the powers available to me which are not very strong. However, it would help to clear up matters if we had such a debate.

Senator Ryan talked about the Department of Finance and who had financial responsibility for it. I have found over the years that the people there are extremely stringent and they run Departments and themselves very well. Revenue issues were discussed last week. When I asked one of the gentlemen present if he was from the Department of Finance, he said quite tartly that he was from Revenue. Those people were there for a purpose, but there appeared to be a large number of them.

Senator Morrissey also called for a debate on transport. It is interesting that in the dynamics of politics there are varying views on this matter. One Senator talked about the petulance of unions, but they have a right to state their positions. We are in a partnership arrangement.