David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister and others have said that nobody in either House - not a single person - has ever spoken in favour of privatisation. The Minister heard two people doing so yesterday. Regardless of how one looks at this issue, one cannot deny that Senators Quinn and White said clearly that it would be a good idea to discuss it and that we should not be closed to it. There is the Minister's answer. I would say there is a hell of a lot more of them in the bulrushes. Certainly this is a Fine Gael point of view.

I was down in my little office, working for the people and slaving my fingers to the bone, when I heard the plaintive tones of my long-time good friend, Senator O'Donnell. I hope nothing I say causes her to burst into tears. I suggest that when she said she "voted to have the Bill read", it was dissimilation of the most obvious kind. I remind her that she was voting for the Second Reading of the Bill. Everything that needed to be said in terms of Second Stage speeches had already been said. We did not vote on the reading of the Bill - we voted on the Second Reading of the Bill, which involves moving on towards the amendments.