Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

We will invite the Minister of State to attend the House because the Senator wanted to raise other matters with him. The Senator also mentioned the issue of Irish Ferries.

Senator Finucane spoke about consultants. I recognise that he raised the matter last week as acting leader of the Opposition, before it had reached its present crescendo. He called into question the comments made by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey. I was often caught in this situation. The problem is that one never hears the full sentence. A comment such as that made by the Minister is never put in context with the result that one is then regarded with odium. If one reads the full comment the seemingly wild comment makes more sense. That is how it works. I believe the Minister was the victim of that type of reporting.

Senator Kitt raised a query about the western rail corridor. We have a query too about the Mullingar to Athlone rail line and are preparing a strong case which I hope the Senators will support, as we supported Senator Kitt.