Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He is always welcome but we and many other Senators would have preferred if the Minister had chosen to attend.

My party has submitted a freedom of information request on the Minister's diary for today to find out where he went this afternoon. If he attended a European meeting then it would not be such a secret. It is unfortunate that he could not come here to defend the motion. The Minister of State read the reply very well but we heard something similar a few weeks ago.

In February 2011 the people judged the performance of the previous Government, which is two years ago, and my party lost 53 seats and whatever number of Senators. As Mary O'Rourke, the distinguished former Leader of the House, has often said, that was then and this is now. Every time that a point needs to be made on behalf of the people, and it relates to an action that is taken today, it will be perfectly legitimate and credible for people on this side of the House to take that step and to say it.