John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

It will be a sign of maturity if the visit goes ahead and it is about time.

On the call for a debate on the economy, for fear that history will be rewritten, the calls made week in and week out by the Opposition for extra spending - not on one area but in every Department - during the run-up to 2007 show it really did not believe the good times were coming to an end.