Seanad debates

Thursday, 9 February 2012

10:30 am

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leader for the meeting yesterday. There was a very good meeting of group leaders on having a structured debate on the fiscal compact. It is very welcome. The initiative involving a briefing from the Oireachtas Library will help to inform the House and the public debate. I thank the Leader very much for this and for allowing for the return of the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, to the House next week to answer the questions asked of her.

I support what the Leader said yesterday on the Order of Business. From my perspective as Leader of the Opposition, I believe the Order of Business serves a very important function in this House. If Senators raise issues on the Order of Business, they should, at the very least, remain to receive an answer. I support the Leader's initiative in that regard wholeheartedly. It allows for more efficiency in the Seanad Chamber. The Leader will have as much co-operation as possible from the Fianna Fáil side.

Today is a very important anniversary in that it is the first anniversary of the comment by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, that "not another red cent" would be paid to the banks until senior bondholders were forced to share the burden. I found a very interesting item on the Fine Gael website, a very good and informative website, in which the party engages in some historical revisionism on this point. Strangely, just in advance of this very important anniversary, this pillar of Fine Gael's election campaign, the item about burning the bondholders, which featured a video and an interview with the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, has been removed from the website.

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