Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Many fine towns - Mullingar comes to mind - had town commissioners but should have had proper, effective town councils. I am not surprised the Minister would assume this document represented Fianna Fáil policy and decide to implement it. As we have seen in the past three years, the plan for economic recovery that was introduced by the former Minister for Finance, the late Brian Lenihan, and totally opposed by the Labour Party and Fine Gael in opposition has been embraced by those same parties in government. What worries me is that they have now run out of Fianna Fáil templates for doing things and, as a consequence, are like a ship at sea without a compass and rudder.