Shane Ross (Independent)

The evidence for that is obvious not so much in the conduct of people in these Houses or the legislation they put forward but in the way semi-State companies are governed. One will find the infiltration of these companies by Fianna Fáil over that period has been quite devastating. Anybody who looks at the boards of the quangos in this country will realise it will take many years to dismantle Fianna Fáil's influence on them. The Minister will be familiar with the issues in FÁS and other semi-State companies, given her former portfolio, while the Minister for Transport will be familiar with the issue of CIE which, for some reason, has not been debated in the House, despite several requests I have made. There are other glaring examples of such companies being used purely and simply as a home for patronage by the Fianna Fáil Party. That is not good for the nation and it is bad for these companies. When this happens on a massive scale, as has been the case, vital organs and utilities become controlled politically. They are run for the benefit of a particular party, which is wrong, and not necessarily for the good of the consumer or the people.

Government Members should not be too prickly about this. I did not say this practice is exclusive to Fianna Fáil. It has happened when other parties have been in government as well but the reality is if one party gets into government for too long, it takes a generation to dismantle the control and influence it has on these organs. Blatantly obvious party political nominees are on the board of the DAA, An Post, Enterprise Ireland and so on. It is difficult to link that to the damage they may or may not do. Perhaps they are just sleepers who do absolutely nothing and do no damage, in which case they should not be there.

I do not necessarily feel this applies to the Green Party but the motion is phrased in such a way that it is difficult for those of us on the Opposition benches to support a blanket dismissal of the Government because my criticism is confined largely to Fianna Fáil. The Green Party in government, like the Progressive Democrats Party before it, have been a good and benign influence. Its Ministers have got some welcome reforms through and they have stopped some of the greater excesses of Fianna Fáil. Its members have influenced appointments and bank investigations, which is to their credit. Senator Boyle has been a great influence on that and I commend him for that but that does not in any way detract from my primary issue. A party should not be in power for so long if it is going to abuse power in the way it has done.