Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

I regret the job cuts announced today by the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, which already employs 5,000 people in the country. This sector is seen as fundamentally important to our export performance and maintaining a strong manufacturing base. I also regret the closure of its plant in Dún Laoghaire which is important to the area. It reflects the lack of direction in the Government's key economic proposals concerning enterprise, controlling the public finances and restoring credibility to economic policy which are needed to encourage and attract foreign investment.

Another protest on Leinster House this evening has been well announced by the media. We had the criminality of last week's protest in which, as Senator Cummins earlier stated, gardaí were attacked. There is an indulgence by the media of the extreme elements, such as the Socialist Workers and others, in these groupings.