Alex White (Labour)

We will give a considered response in the course of the day to the letter the Taoiseach sent at 5 p.m. yesterday. The Labour Party has no difficulty talking to anyone, including the Government, about economic issues. It is odd how this has come about after a period of four or five days. The Taoiseach initially appeared to pour a lot of cold water on what the Minister, Deputy Gormley, said and then decided to write a letter yesterday. It is interesting to read the letter, which does not mention consensus or the basis for the meeting. It mentions that a meeting should take place in order for the Opposition parties to confirm their agreement that the deficit should reach 3% of GDP by 2014. There is no difficulty in having a discussion about that but it remains to be seen what else is in mind.

I can be excused a certain amount of cynicism, or at least scepticism, about the Government's intentions because of my direct experience. Two and a half years ago, a committee was set up to examine amending the Constitution to enhance children's rights. A member of that committee was the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, Deputy Barry Andrews, and the Minister for Justice and Law Reform attended the meetings from time to time. After much heavy lifting, serious work, careful analysis and consensus across all parties, excluding the Green Party, the committee came up with the wording and presented it almost one year ago. Some ten months later, the Government says that it is not really sure about this and believes there may be unintended consequences. The Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs and the Minister for Justice and Law Reform have all the advice available from the Attorney General and Departments. If they were serious about participating in consensus and working across the Houses to improve something in a tangible way in this country, they would have participated in a manner that showed they were dealing in good faith. That is the best example of when the Government says one thing and does something else.