David Norris (Independent)

I am sorry a decent Minister of State has been entrusted with such a squalid and disgraceful reply, which is riddled with intellectual holes. The Minister of State said civil servants are accustomed to changes of role within an organisation. That is a most extraordinary insult to the professionalism and expertise of such people. I have never heard anything like it. Are they dumbbells that can be switched around willy nilly all over the place? Is there no professional expertise? Have they no qualifications? That is plain nonsense. I do not believe this is the Minister of State's opinion. I believe this is some of the apparatchiks sticking the knife into organisations which have raised serious questions. With regard to the anti-ageing measures, the recipients are a very easy target and it is a classic tactic. It would be interesting news for Senator Mary White of the Minister of State's own party. These issues, to adapt Mr. Gerry Adams, will not go away, you know. There are those of us, not only on the Opposition side of the House, committed to ensuring the Government does not get away with this, the nastiest trick of all, and especially cutbacks in the public relations area. I remember, as possibly does the Minister of State, as I believe he was in the House at that time, when a previous administration cut back on citizens' information services. The reason behind this was that the Government said people already had rights, but it destroyed their capacity to exercise those rights.

With regard to savings on buildings, on numerous occasions in the past year I informed the House of buildings throughout the city which were empty, but nothing was done about it. The Government is not fooling anybody and it is a shame that it should behave in this way, attacking the most vulnerable people in our society. It will come back to haunt this Government.