Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

Surprisingly, Pfizer is to close a plant in Dún Laoghaire completely between now and 2014. IDA Ireland will be engaged to find a replacement plant and Pfizer will attempt to find a new operator to take over what is a very modern plant. I hope this plan succeeds.

On "Tonight with Vincent Browne" last night, Richard Boyd Barrett of the Socialist Workers Party, trading as People Before Profit, suggested that the plant be nationalised. This brings home to people what that party represents. It is a case of nationalising everything in this country. We have tried that policy before in the 1930s and we have been living with the legacy every since. There have been much more unfavourable examples in other jurisdictions such as Russia. That is what the People Before Profit, the Socialist Workers Party, represents. We should recognise this because people on those protests last night and last week are being misled and voters are being misled by People Before Profit. It is not as benign or as appealing as it sounds.