Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I begin by being as generous and as ungrudging as I can be, which my colleagues on the Government side will feel is not very much, in complimenting the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, on a job well done. It is not meant to diminish their achievement to say that we have come to take for granted that our Presidencies go well. Our politicians perform well in this area. It is a pity that those who lampoon politics with great delight seem to be unable to acknowledge when things are done well. It is not for me, as an Opposition figure, to add to the nonsensical cynicism of many journalists. I say, without qualification, that ours was a successful Presidency that reflected well on the Government and on the country. It did not reflect too well on the Government in the elections but that is the nature of politics and does not take from the fact that the Presidency was a successful one for which congratulations are due.

We should reflect on a couple of aspects of that success. When artificial constraints are not imposed on us — I think of the constraint of tradition and our degree of deference to the traditions of the neighbouring island and the constraint of precedent, usually and most unfortunately argued by the Department of Finance — we discover that we can do things well with a skill and capacity for innovation unlike many other countries. We have extremely good public servants and politicians, from all parties, who are capable of using, in a way that politics should, the skills of an extremely good Civil Service and public service. It is interesting that when we move into territory where there are no big files saying that one must do this, we never did that and something else is unprecedented and where we have to learn as we go along——