John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

Over 1,000 jobs were being created every week in the economy when the Government came to power. While that rate of increase could not continue forever, it has already slowed.

It is disgusting that the Government motion should be moved in the context of the scandalous waste of money which we saw, for example, with electronic voting. Despite the serious issues people face daily, we have provided two hours of the time of this House to allow the Government to pat itself on the back and tell itself what a great job it has done. To borrow a phrase, while it might have done a great deal, there is a hell of a lot more to do.