Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I join Senator Ó Murchú in expressing my belief that we need to become less partisan in our approach to politics. I would also like to pick up on something Senator Walsh said about the Swedish model. Let us not forget that in Sweden, the Government called in the opposition before it made any announcement, and a consensus was reached on both sides before anything was done. The IMF paper which we have been debating states that there have been numerous instances, such as Sweden, where a period of public ownership has been used to cleanse balance sheets and pave the way to sales back to the private sector. We have been saying this all along in a constructive manner. With respect to Senator Leyden, I do not think his comments this morning help to engender a spirit of constructiveness in these Chambers.