Alex White (Labour)

They are the facts. The other fact is that yesterday we were told that unemployment in this country is now 3% above the European Union average. That is the state of affairs we have reached in this country. Anyone who has any sense of reality cannot possibly invoke the banking reports in support of the Government's position. The absolute contrary is the case. One only has to read the reports. I wonder how many of my colleagues have read them. There is criticism of the guarantee. The notion that Professor Honohan gave plain sailing to the guarantee is totally wrong. That is not the case. In fact, he made the point that the guarantee was too extensive.

Listening to the Tánaiste and some members of the Government one would think the Opposition was responsible for much of what they themselves have done. The ludicrous argument was made about all the demands from the Opposition for extra spending. Since when did Fianna Fáil heed demands from the Opposition about anything?