Eamonn Coghlan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was fortunate to be one of the Taoiseach's nominees. After a number of months I decided I wanted to join the Fine Gael Party because I believed in our leader, Enda Kenny, I believed we were going through extremely tough times and I believed that the Taoiseach and Fine Gael, in co-operation with the Labour Party, were going to rebuild Ireland and rebuild the economy.

Throughout the lovely fine weather during the summer recess there were positive headlines in the newspapers reporting that unemployment figures had come down as well as bond yields. Even governments are investing in Ireland because it is regarded as a safe haven. The banks are rebuilding and it is reported that the Government will recoup approximately €3.5 billion if AIB goes onto the stock market. I refer to the GNP and GDP figures. Enterprise Ireland is hosting a conference in the RDS today for hundreds of Irish companies that are doing business abroad. There are more Irish companies employing more people in the United States than there are companies from the United States employing people in Ireland.

In my view, there is an emergence of stroke politics, in that the good news is not being publicised and this is providing an opportunity for the Opposition to take the Government's eye off the ball-----