Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 18 Dec 1997

Vol. 485 No. 4

Business of Dáil.

The Taoiseach

Following the long tradition of the House, I take this opportunity to wish you a happy Christmas, a Cheann Comhairle, and thank you for all you have done since you took up office in June. I thank you for the courtesy you have shown to all Members of the House, and particularly to me and my colleagues, on a daily basis.

I wish a happy Christmas to all my fellow party leaders, Deputies Bruton, De Rossa and Quinn; all the Members of this House and the Upper House; the staff of the Houses; the Superintendent; the Captain of the Guard; the Clerk of the Dáil; and the staff at all levels who work so hard throughout the year.

It has been a difficult year for everybody in this House. It has been tough. There have been two elections and plenty of activity and we are all due a rest. I wish everybody here, their families and friends, and everybody involved in the political system a happy Christmas, and thank them for the courtesy they have always shown me, although they do not always display it here.

It has been a relatively productive year in many ways. I wish one and all a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas and success in whatever they wish to achieve in 1998. Guíaim Nollaig shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise oraibh go léir.

Mr. J. Bruton

I join the Taoiseach in wishing you, a Cheann Comhairle, and all the Members of the House a very happy Christmas. I thank the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas, the Garda Síochána and the other people who look after the Houses for their work over the year and wish them a happy Christmas. I wish a happy Christmas to our friends in the media whom we have been entertaining and who have been entertaining us over the past few days.

The Taoiseach

Hear, hear.

Mr. J. Bruton

They deserve a happy Christmas. Let us agree on that.

It is important to recognise that Christmas can be a very tense and lonely time for many people. People who have suffered bereavement recently, for instance, will feel the absence of a loved one. We should all remember our friends who are in that position. It is important also that we remember people who are alone at Christmas for whatever reason.

In our excessive celebratory zeal, we should also recollect the importance of road safety and not do anything at Christmas which could endanger the lives of others.

In the midst of a hopeful time in the peace process, it is fair to say there is probably more reason for hope than there has been for many years that the ongoing talks will yield something really worthwhile. This Christmas we should not forget the victims of violence. I was very struck to learn that many people who might have been the victims of a bombing or knee-capping 20 years ago or more are still in constant pain. These are people for whom pain is a daily and nightly reality. They cannot sleep because of pain without medication of some kind. We should remember not just those who are lonely, who are suffering spiritual pain, but also those who are suffering the physical pain of violence. In our celebration of the progress which is being made in the sense that we are entering a new era in which this sort of violence will not feature again, we should not forget the people who will suffer until the day they die from the consequences of violence which occurred over the past 30 years in this country.

I wish the Taoiseach and the members of the Government, in particular, a happy Christmas and success in their work. I wish a happy Christmas to the leaders of the Labour Party and Democratic Left, Deputies Gormley and Sargent of the Green Party and, most importantly, Deputies Healy-Rae, Blaney and Fox.

Proinsias De Rossa

Who keep them in power.

Dr. McDaid

They are not for sale.

Mr. J. Bruton

I assure them that I think of them just as often and with the same warm feelings of regard as does the Taoiseach. If ever they want to see things look up in this country——

Mr. S. Brennan

Santa Claus.

Mr. J. Bruton

——they know there are people who would welcome their comprehension and understanding at all times and would cherish them as they deserve to be cherished.

Mr. Quinn

I wish you, a Cheann Comhairle, a very happy Christmas and new year, and thank you for the wonderful impartiality with which you have conducted the affairs of this House since June. I know you felt obliged to demonstrate that in a very manifest way, but expelling two of your former party colleagues was slightly over the top. However, perhaps you were provoked to a point where it was the only course of action open to you. Nobody can be in any doubt as to your asserted and manifest independence.

I wish the party leaders a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. I wish the Government well. I would advise them not to get to happy in Government because they will not be there that long. They should enjoy their first Christmas in government.

I share the hopes of the leader of the Fine Gael Party that we are entering the first year in a long time for which the prospects look reasonably optimistic. All of us in my party and on this side of the House will be working to enhance the efforts which the Taoiseach and his colleagues in Government must undertake on behalf of us all on this island. It is an onerous responsibility.

I thank the staff and the Clerk of the Dáil for the co-operation and facilities which have been made available to us during the year.

Finally, I thank our colleagues in the media who have the difficult task of reporting what we say and think, and do it with wonderful impartiality all year round.

Proinsias De Rossa

I would obviously want to be associated with the good wishes to you, a Cheann Comhairle, and, indeed, to your able assistant, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, who is also making something of a name for himself in his insistence on applying his view of the Standing Orders, as is his duty and entitlement.

I wish a happy Christmas and new year to the staff of the House. This place could not operate but for the dedication of the staff who give unstinted assistance and courtesy to every Member of the House, irrespective of how long he or she has been here or of the party of which he or she is a member.

I extend good wishes to my colleagues in the House, the Taoiseach and his colleagues in Fianna Fáil, the Tánaiste and her colleagues in the Progressive Democrats, Deputy Bruton and his colleagues in Fine Gael, Deputy Quinn and his colleagues in the Labour Party, the Green Party and Deputy Joe Higgins. I spent a while up in that perch and managed to make an impression, but I do not want to go back there. I want to be on the other side of the House.

Mr. J. Bruton

Hear, hear.

Proinsias De Rossa

I am sure the Taoiseach did not mean, at least not entirely, that he wishes me or anyone else on this side of the House success in our aspirations for next year.

The Taoiseach

If Deputy John Bruton obtains the support of the Independents, I might need the Deputy's support.

Proinsias De Rossa

That is true, but there are other options.

Mr. J. Bruton

I have a package deal in mind. No bales of hay will fall off that wagon.

Proinsias De Rossa

The Taoiseach need not leave that side of the House for me to go over there.

A number of years ago I got into trouble on an occasion like this when I wished the Green Party a treeless and turkeyless Christmas. I was not wishing that party ill because I assumed that was what it wanted. I will not repeat that statement. However, in the context of next year and the future of the peace process, I wish that Christmas will be free of semtex and bullets.

Mr. Gormley

I had the privilege of enjoying lunch with the Ceann Comhairle today and I know he is looking forward to the Christmas recess as much as everyone else. It has been an eventful few months but he has weathered the storm well. I believe the Deputy deserved a red card on the occasion to which he referred earlier. The Ceann Comhairle has exerted his authority well.

I wish the Ceann Comhairle and his family, Members and their families, the Captain of the Guard, the Superintendent, the staff of the Houses and the journalists who cover events here a happy Christmas. I join others in wishing the Taoiseach all the best for the new year. I compliment him on the work he has done on the peace process, I know he has worked very hard. The greatest wish everyone could have — many people from Northern Ireland have contacted me in this regard — is that we will see peace in 1998.

An Ceann Comhairle

I express my appreciation to the Taoiseach, the Leader of the Opposition and other party Leaders for their kind remarks and best wishes. I extend to them, to Members and their loved ones my best wishes for a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year. My best wishes also go the staff of the House, including members of the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces who play an important role, and the people seated behind me who I never see any more, namely the members of the media — I assume some of them remain in the Press Gallery.

Mr. J. Bruton

They are watching the Ceann Comhairle at all times.

An Ceann Comhairle

I would like them to be aware that we extend our best wishes to them at Christmas.