Shane Ross (Independent)

It is not mine, as I do not have one. A great deal of political capital has been sunk into Government by the permission of someone else. When one does not get the permission, one does not know what to do. I do not say that as someone who is critical of social partnership. What happened last night has been an incredible shock to the Government because it presumed, as did everyone else, that a deal was done last week and all that was going on was the usual window dressing. Now we have a situation where the Government is bankrupt of ideas and it will actually have to govern. It may be a blessing in disguise, but it is typical of the Government that it has done this and not merely on social partnership.

Government by negotiation is going on somewhere else. Somewhere in Dublin today, apparently, the banks and the Department of Finance are negotiating a deal to put €8 billion into the banks. Why the hell are they negotiating this? I cannot understand it. The Government has become so used to asking permission from somebody to govern that it asked permission of the unions to govern the finances of the economy and then it asked the banks for permission to give them €8 billion. What is going on? Why do they not just say to them that they are getting this money on the following conditions?