Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I endorse the points made on expenses by many of my colleagues. The issue should be settled once and for all. I am ashamed by the bad press we receive. It is as if we have all been selected or elected to be corrupt and abuse the system. The way the media are treating us is wrong. I do not care how, but it should no longer be said everything we do is shady. All I want to be is a public servant and to do my job to the best of my ability. I am not in it for the money. Neither I nor my family wants to be tainted in this way, but the message I am picking up from the media is that either I must answer every time I move inside and outside the House or else I am doing this for my benefit alone.

I support the request for a debate on taxation reform and the McCarthy report. I agree with many of the Opposition's points, in that there has been colossal waste. FÁS is an example; its management has worked from the top down. This hierarchical concept of society must change. I am not asking for a reversal to a bottom-up approach, but we should at least have a discussion. Many fine people in FÁS knew nothing about what was occurring at the top. It is a shame that they have been grouped together as if they were all guilty for the way in which the top layer managed its business.

Society is changing and we must discuss how business is done. The vulnerable must be protected. I support Senator MacSharry who cited many examples of vulnerable mortgage holders. My job is to protect the vulnerable in society. I am not interested in society's top layer but its bottom layer.