Seanad report:The referendum on the new European Union treaty would fail if the Taoiseach was still in office when it was held, Eugene Regan, Fine Gael spokesman on justice, warned.
The lesson that had been learned from the experience in the case of the Nice treaty was that domestic issues played a big role in the decisions of voters in EU treaty referenda. In yesterday's newspapers, Mr Ahern had been held up to ridicule, particularly in relation to the Government salary increases.
There was also his unbelievable evidence at the Mahon tribunal, and the general context in which the electorate would feel it had been fooled in the general election regarding the economy, health and other matters.
"I just wonder, with the present Taoiseach, can this referendum be passed. I think this House should reflect on that and I would ask the leader [ of the House] to reflect on that. Perhaps it's an issue that we can return to when we debate the EU treaty. In my view, the referendum will fail if the present Taoiseach is still in power next year."
Mr Regan said the Government had already created one major problem going into the referendum campaign, with its contradictory stance in opting out of policing and criminal law measures.
On one hand, the Government considered it necessary to opt out of EU co-operation in this area; on the other hand it had issued a declaration stating it was fully committed to such co-operation. The Minister for Justice should clarify what was meant by "fully committed".
Responding to Mr Regan's remarks, House leader Donie Cassidy said he was still waiting for the Fine Gael spokesman to make one complimentary comment about "this great man. Six hundred thousand jobs in 10 years - not a bad record for a very excellent Taoiseach."
Decrying the local standards of hygiene in many hospitals, David Norris (Ind) said a Chairman Mao or a Pol Pot should be done on those managing them. Mao had sent professional people out into the fields to work in order to give them a "taste of it. Why not make the managers do a bit of cleaning?"
A large number of people were dying from hospital-acquired infections, but, astonishingly, despite the proliferation of managers and systems, it was not known how many people actually died. It was now known from newspapers that our hospitals were not just dirty but filthy.