David Norris (Independent)

He is a real scholar, a PhD, the translator of Fernando Pessoa, a world authority not just on Joyce but on Pessoa, who has made these links between Ireland and Portugal. Thank God we got him and we would not have done so without FÁS. It is absolutely appropriate that excessive lifestyles be examined.

I heard somebody say — there was a chorus of approval — that half of FÁS's budget, equivalent to €500 million, should be knocked off. That seems to be a swingeing cut, particularly as we have abolished the Combat Poverty Agency and mutilated the Equality Authority. Everything that supports people in a recession is being attacked. For God's sake do not destroy the body that is supposed to look after people who are coming out of employment. Reform it and make it efficient, but do not put it out of business.