Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

-----relating to a decent and honourable man. I do not know of any constituency which would not want the Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen, as its representative in these Houses. The Taoiseach is an effective politician and he has proved his worth to his country. Deputy Cowen has put his country first - before both his party and himself. If he had not done so during the past three years, we would be facing into our third general election in a short period as opposed to the first since 2007. The position would be the same as that which obtained in the period 1981 to 1982. There is no need for me to outline the unfortunate events which occurred between 1982 and 1987 when that crowd opposite were in power. During that period, people were paying almost 70% in income tax and levies.