Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

Not only would Deputy Kenny, as vice president of the European People's Party, EPP, and Fine Gael, as a member of the EPP, support John Bruton as the next President of the European Commission, but we will do everything we can to support the case of Ireland and every Irish person in the European project as we have done since joining the EU. We will continue to give our support to the Government on behalf of everyone who is doing good work for this country in Europe.

Regarding the economy, the Government's approach to politics will not change dramatically, but it must learn that it cannot waffle its way out of a recession. The Government is long on talk, but short on action. This has been the case for the past two years. If the House is to hold debates, Ministers should attend to tell us what they have done to sort out this crisis. Using Private Members' motions, perhaps the Fianna Fáil and Green parties could outline to the House the positive steps taken by the Government in recent years to remove us from the crisis that it walked us into during the past decade. Instead of debates on the seabed, which were admittedly useful, we could have serious debates on the economy through the Government parties' Private Members' time.