Fianna Fail is here for the long run, the very long run.
- The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern
The Ireland in which Fianna Fail was founded in 1926 has been irrevocably changed . . . The new republic must be for everyone. It must be for the unemployed, it must be for people with disabilities, it must be for single parents, for gay people, for small farmers.
- The Minister for Tourism, Sport & Recreation, Dr McDaid
There are no limitless funds, no bottomless pits.
- The Minister for Health & Children, Mr Cowen, on funding for the health services
There is no taxpayer in the State who would object to giving an extra couple of pounds towards the mentally handicapped.
- Ms Anne Marie Cantwell (Tipperary South)
The Labour Party is on the verge of a merger with one of the very few parties on the planet which has had more names in the past than it now has deputies. - The Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue
DL's leader and soon to be president of the Labour Party, Proinsias De Rossa, appears to be about to engage in a shotgun wedding with Bernie Malone who seems to be remarkably reluctant to walk down the European aisle with him. - Ms Mary Hanafin TD
There is no downside to sub-regionalising the country or any part of the country. It is always assumed that if Joe is doing well, Jack has to be doing badly. That does not apply to sub-regionalisation. - The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, on the concept of regionalisation for receipt of EU funds
Since I took up office in October 1997, I have been dealing with the largest single policy issue to have ever arisen in the Defence area, that is the proverbial avalanche of Army hearing loss claims, an ever growing malignant tumour, a cancer on the skin of the Department of Defence.
- The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith
It is not an independent cumann, it is Fianna Fail.
- Mr Jerome Hegarty, refer- ring to his cumann in Kerry South, constituency of the Independent TD, Mr Jackie Healy-Rae
The arts are not a spectator sport for a passive elite. The arts should engage us, all of us.
- The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera