David Norris (Independent)

I ask for a debate on the Corrib gas field and the Shell to Sea campaign. On more than one occasion, I praised the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, for his sterling qualities of decency and political courage. However, he did not show them last week in the Dáil. As parliamentarians, we are entitled to an explanation of the Government by smear which seemed to occur. It is extraordinary that he stated an unnamed acquaintance overheard a conversation on a mobile telephone on Grafton Street which included words such as "Rossport" and "riot". God bless his hearing. He is obviously not an army deafness claimant. It is an outrageous and disgraceful performance by the Minister.

Also, we are told the provos are up to their ears in it. So what? I remember the provos used to lick the altar rails of churches throughout the country. Did that mean no one else was allowed to believe in God? Is it guilt by association? The police force is enlisted on behalf of a widely discredited multi-national corporation. We remember the inheritance it left to Nigeria. It is speedily doing the same in the west of Ireland. It successfully divided a country and families in its exploitation of our national resources which we gave away for nothing. We do not even charge it tax.