Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I wish the party leaders well in today's talks. I hope a suitable, independent means of verifying the figures can be found when that issue is addressed. I also heard the powerful speech made by Mr. John Bruton, a former Taoiseach and European Union ambassador to Washington. He spoke eloquently and powerfully about our abilities and capabilities. We can move forward in hope and manage our way out of the current crisis with proper planning, but the difficulty is that there has been widespread mismanagement. As Mr. Bruton pointed out, the Civil Service completely lacks co-ordination. Departments do not communicate with each other and many civil servants are too willing to fight turf wars over their own patch, as if it their Department was their personal fiefdom. They forget that, like us, they are servants of the State.