John Whelan (Labour)

I agree with Senator Darragh O'Brien and commend him on the measured and constructive criticism he levelled against the Government because that is the job of a robust and good Opposition. It is important that every Government is held to account. I would like to address the issues Senator Darragh O'Brien raised and make some points. It is in the best interest of the House that in doing so, I ignore the Senator from Meath's obsession with stag hunting. I do not know what it has to do with anything but it surfaces every day. He needs to have it looked at.

It is important on the first anniversary of the Government and of the formation of the Seanad to look at the situation. I do not believe for one second that the Labour Party or Fine Gael has a monopoly on good ideas or good policies. For instance, I would like to commend Deputy Micheál Martin on something for which the country will be eternally grateful, namely, the smoking ban in the workplace. No one can take that away from him or from a previous Government. The dividend to public health and the public purse will be a strong and proud legacy for generations.

Like my colleague, Senator Bradford, I also took an earnest interest in the goings on at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis and I commend Deputy Micheál Martin's defence of small rural schools in his speech. It is a matter on which I agree with him and which I will continue to bring to the attention of the Minister for Education and Skills and the Government. It is also a matter I discussed with the incoming president of the GAA, Liam O'Neill, who is a Laois man and the principal of a small rural school with 35 pupils which is at the heart of the community. To be fair to Fianna Fáil, it has always been the vanguard of rural Ireland. I commend it on that and I share a common purpose in that regard.

The question of small businesses was raised in Deputy Micheál Martin's speech at the Ard-Fheis. The small business person and the self-employed person deserve all our support and any assistance we can give them. While absenteeism remains a big problem and is a huge burden on the taxpayer - it is estimated at €550 million per annum - at a time when we can ill afford it, the small business sector is not the problem and the burden of absenteeism should not be left at its door.

Having made those points, I diverge in a substantive way from the Opposition motion which reads more like fiction than any sort of meaningful assessment of the Government's performance. In fact, Bertie Ahern would be proud of the creative aspects of the motion. I am sure it would qualify for tax exemption because it is so creative and fictional. Like the public at large, we all await with bated breath the imminent publication of the Mahon report because, in a sense, it will punctuate a chapter in Irish public life and Irish political history. It is important that this Government as well as the last one are held to account when the time comes. That will be part of that process. I look forward to the publication of the Mahon report and its findings. For my money, it is worth every penny it cost because one cannot put a price on accountability and a free and fair democracy.

The juxtaposition of people planning to emigrate queuing up at a jobs fair in Ballsbridge with the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis was a landmark moment which will resonate with Irish families for years to come. Like so many other Irish families, members of my family and my children have been forced to emigrate. We all know what it is like and no one can pull rank on that. I agree with Senator Reilly from Sinn Féin that it is not a lifestyle choice or something that one does for the experience. To be fair, we all know who coined that phrase first, namely, the former Tánaiste, Mary Couglan, who said people were going off on a gap year, for fun and for the experience. I do not believe that is the case.

Some 252,000 people have been forced to emigrate since 2008. I turned to my good friend, the economist, Constantin Gurdgiev, for those figures, so I do not believe anyone can say I am pulling them out of the sky. It is not a lifestyle choice; it is a far more serious matter. Many of those young people and families would prefer to stay in this country but they do not have the choice. I do not know one who lays the blame at this Government's door. We must be given a chance to address the issues.

The motion calls for the reopening of Army barracks. That is very interesting. Why do we not reopen all the Army barracks Deputy Willie O'Dea closed when he was Minister for Defence, including the one in Kildare town where buachalláns are growing and which is a campus for anti-social behaviour? It is a redundant eyesore in the middle of the town. If we are going to be constructive, let us be consistent.

I would like to see the Fruitfield plant, the Jacobs factory and the sugar factory in Carlow, which the former Minister, Mary Coughlan, sold out, reopened.