Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

Yes, I am opposing the Order of Business. The Opposition has been calling for information on the economy, indications from the Government on its proposals, and some sense of direction on where we are going. The pleas of the Opposition have been rebuffed at every turn. We are asking today whether we can have a briefing on what is happening. My understanding is that the Leader is not prepared to accede to that. While the Opposition benches have been endeavouring to have constructive engagement on this issue, Ministers have given speeches which are full of platitudes and generalisations which have no relation to the problems at hand. It is very disappointing that this is the situation.

It appears that the Taoiseach's strategy on the social partnership talks has been ill-conceived from the beginning. Partnership has worked in a time of economic growth, where trade-offs exist and the goodies can be spread among the different sectoral interests. That is not the situation now. Senator O'Toole has explained the difficulties of the unions in selling a deal to their members, and I think these are the difficulties that exist. It is understandable that the unions should want the Government and the Taoiseach to make the decisions and lead from the front, rather than imposing the burden on them to sell a deal that is harsh for their members. However, that is the problem. We have spent all of this time, yet still we have no decisions.