Opposition criticism of the Government over Eircom shares was rejected by Mr Conor Lenihan (FF, Dublin South West) during the resumed debate on the Fine Gael private member's motion.

Mr Lenihan described the reaction of the Opposition parties as "hysterical and irrational", adding that they were attempting to exploit politically the poor performance of the share price.

"Fine Gael and Labour are acting like chat-show hosts, indulging the public in false and unwarranted expectations. Labour, in particular, having abandoned socialism, is now clearly in favour of selling the family silver, but to make matters worse seems to advocate selling the silver at a double discount."

Mr Pat Rabbitte (Labour, Dublin South West) said the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, had generated a mood of ecstasy at the time of the flotation. "The people of Ireland were bombarded with hard-sell advertising that cost the taxpayer a fortune." The proposition that the small print of the mini-prospectus superseded the hype led by the Minister was nonsense.

The Fine Gael spokesman on public enterprise, Mr Ivan Yates, said: "Now that the Government believes, as enunciated by Minister O'Rourke, that buying shares is akin to backing a horse in Leopardstown, I don't think future semi-state sales will be popular with the public. Permanent damage has been done to the entire privatisation and IPO process."

A Government amendment, commending the Government and the Minister was passed by 73 votes to 61.