Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The House has completed a considerable amount of business and considered a substantial number of issues without any serious rows. There has rarely been a serious disagreement about time allocations or anything like that. I was not present in the House earlier this week for the debate on the Criminal Justice Bill 2004, which was a classic example of the allocation of sufficient time. As Senator Brian Hayes said, the Minister, Deputy McDowell, with whom I disagree on almost everything and whose willingness to engage with the Members of this House we know about, created an atmosphere in which a considerable amount of work was done very quickly.

Like my colleagues, I pay tribute to Mr. Jimmy Walsh and The Irish Times. Senator O'Toole made this point very well. I hope those who fail to report the proceedings of this House will give us the kindness of their silence about our alleged holidays. If they are indifferent to our presence, they could extend that same indifference to our alleged absence. Much of what they say in that regard is untrue in any event. I would like to imagine the reaction of two journalists I can think of, without naming any names. One particular prominent leader of the nation in the media works, according to his definition of work, for five hours a week. If he is happy to judge us by our presence in the Chamber, I will judge him in the same way. He takes much longer holidays, as he would call them, than we do. He would be most indignant——