Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I support what Senators Harris and Cummins said on the Irish passport issue. We need to show that this House has a balanced view of world affairs. Sadly, we are continuing to express a one-sided view of Israel, in particular.

Senator MacSharry's Freudian slip about the Good Friday Agreement has brought me to the point I would like to make. As I have said previously, peace on this island, to a reasonable degree, was achieved when the political parties in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland decided to work together. None of the parties in question lost its political flavour or position because they decided to work together in a spirit of consensus and co-operation. We have to approach the country's current economic plight in the same way. I am glad a degree of reality has become apparent with regard to the scale of our economic problems and we need to match it with a degree of political reality. The Leader must accept the concerns of Senators on this side of the House about the possibility that the Opposition will be walked into a political trap. As I have said repeatedly in the last 18 months, my guiding principle in this respect is the fact that the Government's political goose is absolutely cooked. I remind my colleagues that we do not have to consume that goose by this Christmas.