Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

I am glad to hear some of my colleagues are on board in my campaign to halt the monster sewage treatment plant project in north County Dublin. Perhaps the reason is boundary reviews are are due to be undertaken soon. I raised the matter with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, in a good debate on public expenditure a number of months ago in which he committed to review the project, which will cost €2.1 billion. I ask the Leader to use his good offices and follow up on the matter with the Minister to see if the review has started.

I was concerned, as were a number of people who contacted me today, to read the piece in the Irish Examiner and listen to the interview with the chairman of the Labour Party, Deputy Keaveney, on Newstalk, in which he stated clearly that should Ireland require a second round of funding - he used the words "in the unlikely event", but most of us would agree that we will require it - the decision on whether to accept it or the Labour Party should proceed in government would have to go before Labour Party members. I voice a note of caution for the Labour Party. We dealt with such a group in the previous Government when the Green Party Ministers had to go back to party members every time they wanted to agree to an order of business. That is not the way to do it, as the Government has a mandate. Deputy Keaveney mentioned that the Government had inherited the memorandum of understanding; it did not. The Government renegotiated. It made great play of the fact that it had renegotiated the most recent one - the July memorandum of understanding.

Recently there was a vote on how the European Union should proceed on the ESM and the fiscal stability treaty during the course of which debate we spoke about the importance of stability, both within Europe and the country. I genuinely do not believe comments such as those made by Deputy Keaveney are helpful in carrying out the job of government. He stated effectively that at the end of 2013 they would be going back to Labour Party members to decide on whether they should remain in government. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, should be requested to come here to clarify whether the formal position of the Labour Party is as enunciated by the chairman of the Labour Party. If that is the case, it will introduce a large degree of uncertainty between now and when we exit the programme at the end of 2013 in that every month we will be wondering what is happening.

I would have thought it was a most unhelpful comment. I also thought it was not coincidental that the Tánaiste, because of Government business, was not at the Labour Party Parliamentary Party meeting when the matter was raised. However, it needs to be clarified, as it is a concern. I say to my Labour Party colleagues that policy cannot be driven by popularity ratings in polls. As the Labour Party is teetering on single digits, it seems its members are a little nervous.