Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Will the Leader inform the House where next with this matter?

Over the weekend the main Opposition party published a policy document, Reinventing Government. It contains many proposals with which I disagree, but it is an intriguing and innovative document that raises issues that need to be discussed. It contains many positive proposals which I welcome and at which the Government should look seriously. They should be debated in the House in a level-headed and broad-minded way. Its approach to quangos, for instance, is quite different from that adopted in other proposals I have seen.

We should now be organising the second debate on the Croke Park agreement to assess what progress has been made in the intervening month. Will the Leader give a commitment that it will be dealt with later this month?

The international media are seeking all-party consensus on the economy. Senator Fitzgerald rightly raised the international media's reporting on the economy. It is not all bad; some of it is good. For example, The Wall Street Journal had a positive article on the economy this week. We need to know what is the Opposition's response to the international view that there should be a consensus approach to the Government's budgetary plans. I want to hear how the Government will make this happen and how the Opposition will engage with it.