Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

It is not unprecedented for Ministers who have decided not to run in a general election to step down from the Cabinet and be replaced. It will happen again. It is important that those placed in Cabinet positions have the calibre and ability to do the job to make a difference for the country. That is what we need.

I again raise the issue of legal fees. Although a number of my colleagues have signed my motion on tribunals, no one opposite has. One of the greatest scandals in the past decade has been the exorbitant cost to the taxpayer of tribunals which were asked to investigate matters urgently. Thirteen years later, covering four terms of the Houses of the Oireachtas, they are still extracting money from the taxpayer and offering no results.