Shane Ross (Independent)

I want to refer to one or two of the issues addressed by the Minister of State today, because it is a very serious subject. I have not much time to quote from the Minister of State's speech, but he made a cardinal mistake. Both he and Senator O'Toole advocated social partnership and then cited the great benefits the economy has reaped in the last few years. They go straight to quod est demonstrandum, QED — therefore, this is what has happened. They do not make the connection. The connection is never made by anybody, except that two things happened in parallel. Just because two things happened in parallel does not mean they are responsible for each other or even have any link. They happened at the same time. There is a case for saying industrial disputes were undoubtedly reduced as a result of the talks that went on over the past 20 years. Let us not argue about that. The statistics are absolutely compelling on that particular issue.