Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I note with interest that Greece has been closed down today by the first of a series of public sector strikes. People should keep that in mind when they study the Irish situation. The difference between the trade union movements in Ireland and Greece is that the former conceded immediately, or at least by last December, that the Government would have to save money the hard way and was prepared to find ways of achieving that goal. Eventually the Government disagreed, as it was entitled to do. However, nature abhors a vacuum. Nothing is happening except that ordinary people are seething with anger. Nobody is driving the process. This should not be allowed to continue because bushfires are breaking out in various public and private sector workplaces. We need to calm the situation by dealing with it now. The Government parties should be discussing how they can address the issues within their parliamentary party meetings. It is not a question of making concessions; it is about identifying ways of making progress.

I deliberately did not speak about George Lee on yesterday's Order of Business because I felt we had heard too much about it already. However, the related point raised by my colleague, Senator Harris, deserves close attention. People should look at what we do and how we do it. Let this be a lesson to those who called for Bill Cullen or Michael O'Leary to run the country. A particular skills set is required for political life and although we should not be completely cynical by saying we cannot have people coming in here, we need to consider how we can deal with this issue. The recent report of the Joint Committee on the Constitution offers one solution with its proposal that people would be appointed to Government through the Seanad. These would be carefully selected people who possess particular skills rather than celebrity candidates. However, we must recognise that skills such as persuasion, perseverance, obstinacy and leadership are required. One cannot run the country solely by having the skill to tell someone: "You're fired", or to demand that one check in on-line for a chair in the accident and emergency department. There are different ways of dealing with these issues.

The question of patriotism arises in respect of people coming forward for public service. Criticism is constantly aired in this House against the boss of the HSE but, to me, that man is a patriot in the real sense of the word. He put himself forward to run the HSE, yet he gets nothing but stick and criticism from all sides, including me on occasion. We should recognise that the service given by such people helps to make Irish life work.