David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

We are opposed to it politically. What we are doing is what any party should do. We are taking the arguments directly to the Government parties in the Dáil and in the Seanad.

People talk about leadership. Senator Whelan talked about the footpaths and the lighting in playgrounds having to be paid for yet he has the brass neck to sit in this House, along with members of his party, Fine Gael, and shortly sign off on a cheque for €3.1 billion. In January of this year they signed off on a cheque for €1.2 billion. In November of last year they signed off on a cheque for several hundred million euro.

I do not judge the Government on what I would want it to do. I judge the Government on what it said it would do. Why were the Government parties elected? They were elected on the basis of promises they made and on their pre-election manifestos. We should examine some of the clear pledges made by the parties. They said that not one cent more of taxpayers' money would go into the banks. They said that aggressive burden sharing would have to be imposed before-----