SEANAD REPORT:SEANAD DEPUTY leader Dan Boyle (GP) said he would admit that people were questioning whether they could trust those who were leading them. There was an adding to uncertainty which could not be allowed to persist because to do so questioned the ability of government and the basis for being in government.

“I ask those questions because they’re asked by every citizen in this country, and they’re questions that will be asked by those who are coming in to assess our economic viability.”

Minister of State for Finance Martin Mansergh noted that the director general of the IMF was reputed to be a likely socialist party candidate in the next French presidential election. “I think much more attention is now paid to the socialist dimension and the effects of financial stringency than perhaps was the case 20 or 30 years ago.”

Alex White (Lab) said the people of Ireland could have no trust in a government where some of its members had recently described as fiction reports of discussions about bailouts or related matters. Absence of frankness and honesty meant that a government had no legitimacy.

Ivana Bacik (Lab) said it was extraordinary to hear people on the Government benches engage in verbal gymnastics to avoid using the term “bailout”.

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Frances Fitzgerald, Fine Gael leader in the House, noted that Minister for Health Mary Harney had indicated that the new children’s hospital project would be going ahead.

This appeared to be the first disclosure of what the four-year strategy would contain, but she wondered if the Minister was assuming that it would be supported by “our visitors from Frankfurt, Washington and Brussels”.