David Norris (Independent)

I agree with every single word uttered by Senator Mary White. I was present at the church. It was an astonishing spectacle. I have never experienced anything like it. It was the risen people.

It is extraordinary that Fianna Fáil, which was always the party par excellence in terms of being in touch with the grass roots, seems to have lost its antenna. It did not listen to the people on this issue and now the people will not listen to it. When the Minister of State, Deputy John Moloney, went to the microphone a palpable wave of anger travelled down the body of the church and walloped off him, as it were. His face went parchment white. The microphone was taken from him and he was told, "Shame on you; shame on you." It was an extraordinary spectacle and very dangerous.

As we head into an economic storm, the one thing we need is a sure hand on the tiller and firm Government that has moral authority and the support of all the people, including the different parties. By political cack-handedness, regrettably, the Government has lost it. Its targets were wrong. It is not that the Government does not have an ideology. It is that too much ideology has leaked in from the Progressive Democrats. Competition is all we heard about.

We hear, for example, Members on the Government side of the House raise the issue of universality. They are against it but are for it when their Government puts a 1% tax on everyone, which is the most shameful measure I have ever come across in my life. I will say what they are doing because I have tried to say it and I was stopped.