I welcome that the industrial action of unofficial stoppage in Dublin Bus has ended. I echo the statement issued yesterday by the Labour Party spokesperson on transport, Deputy Broughan, who promptly called for a return to work and I hope there will not be a repetition of the kind of unofficial action we have seen which has caused so much disruption to commuters and people in Dublin.

This was one of the many issues raised with me during recent days since we met in the House last Thursday. People are also worried about their jobs and fear losing them. I have come across business people and self-employed people who complain they cannot get any assistance from State agencies in these difficult times. They are concerned there is a continuing problem with the banks and that they are not able to get credit. I have met people who are concerned about new reports in respect of cancer services, this time in Waterford. More recently, people are concerned about the possibility of a flu epidemic. They wonder what action the Government is taking to deal with the cases that have emerged and the tests being undertaken. They are worried there might be a spread of this flu.

In these circumstances, people want a sense there is a Government which is in charge of such matters and is on top of them. Over the course of the weekend what we heard was a series of reports telling us this Fianna Fáil Government is riven with division. It is understandable that a Minister of State who was dropped from office will express disappointment but by the normal standards of disappointment the statements made by the former Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment are extraordinary. The former Minister of State, Deputy John McGuinness, tells us there is now paralysis within the Fianna Fáil Government.

We already knew that.

He says he has no confidence in the Fianna Fáil Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Mary Coughlan.

Nor have we.

He says she is not up to the job. He says, "she is not equipped to deal with the complex issues facing her Department and neither is her Department". When the Tánaiste issued a statement denying he had said he had no confidence in her, in a further statement Deputy McGuinness claimed he said to her face at a meeting on 11 March that he had no confidence in her. He went on to say, "she has heard nothing and acted on nothing that business leaders have been telling her since her appointment".

If Deputy Kenny or I said any of that in the House in respect of the Tánaiste I know the kind of response the Taoiseach would give us. Today I want to know what is the Taoiseach's response to Deputy McGuinness and to the other members of his party who, in thinly disguised anonymity in the Sunday newspapers, have repeated virtually the same story.

I reject those criticisms of the Tánaiste. I believe she has been hardworking, as any Minister concerned with employment in the present circumstances must be, having to contend with the most severe international recession this country has seen or any Minister in her position in any other Government has seen. On all occasions, and even as we speak today, she is working with Irish entrepreneurs and employers trying to get more business for this country. She is working well and those who work with her and have seen her representing the country in that capacity have had nothing but praise for her efforts.

I do not deal with anonymity in any guise, whether it is thinly or thickly veiled. This Government has the support of the majority of this House to continue with a consistent policy framework which is difficult and is making an imposition on people, involving hardship for them. However, we are committed to it because we believe it is in the long-term and short-term interests of the country. Of course the Opposition has many opportunities to tell the House what is wrong and what is right and all the rest of it. The bottom line is that this Government is committed to continuing the work it is doing and the Tánaiste has my full support and that of those who support the Government.

She is like a prisoner in the Cabinet.

And the Fianna Fáil people?

God help us all.

I remind the Taoiseach that these criticisms come not from the Opposition but from his own side of the House. As far as I and the Labour Party are concerned the Tánaiste has our support in the work she is doing today. We want her mission abroad to succeed. These are comments that have come from a Minister of State appointed originally by the Taoiseach's predecessor and reappointed by the Taoiseach. He was the Tánaiste's deputy in that Department for the course of the past year since the Taoiseach appointed Deputy Coughlan as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Whatever divisions, uisce-fé-thalamh and machinations are going on behind the Taoiseach's back are a matter for him and his party. The concern they are to the rest of us and to the wider public is that the Taoiseach and his leadership team are spending their time now and for the next number of months looking over their shoulders and behind them, looking for little conspiracies and for people stabbing them in the back, for more Ministers and more backbenchers making this type of comment. Some of these comments are about the Taoiseach. For example, "paralysis" was the term used in respect of him and his leadership of the Government. As long as that continues, the Taoiseach and his team will not be focused on the problems the people of the country want them to address. That is the problem.

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach gave a very half-hearted reply. If either Deputy Kenny or I made those types of criticisms about the Tánaiste or about any of his other Ministers, he would be fit to be tied to his seat in terms of the response he would give us.

That is a fair role.

I can only contrast that with the response he has given today which is muted and half-hearted, particularly by the Taoiseach's own standards.

It is not muted or half-hearted. It is measured, calm and proportionate.

Did the Taoiseach view "The Late Late Show"?

My response is measured, calm and proportionate. I have given full support to my Tánaiste, as I would to every member of this Government in respect of the work they do——

Except the lads he fired.

——because we are all collectively responsible for decisions. I have not been equivocal in any way in my rejection of the criticisms by Deputy McGuinness in respect of how he views the Tánaiste is doing her job. I refrained from engaging in any further criticism because I do not believe it is of any help or use to anybody. I believe I did a job that had to be done with regard to my responsibilities. I do not take any great pleasure in doing these things but it had to be done. It is no reflection on the competence or capabilities of anybody concerned. I had to get on with my job. The Deputy has to do this himself, from time to time. I am sure the changing round of responsibilities, or whatever, is one of the more difficult aspects of his job.

People are entitled to express opinions in certain respects but I do not accept for one moment criticisms that would suggest the Tánaiste is anything less than competent and diligent in the discharge of her responsibilities. Quite the contrary. Those who work with her and who have seen her in action doing the job the Deputy mentioned, either this week or any other, have given only praise to me in respect of the efforts she has made and the professionalism with which she has discharged her responsibilities. I do not wish to get involved in any criticism of any other individual only to say that we should all work conscientiously and together, in full solidarity, in the interests of the country.

Regarding the idea there is any paralysis in the Government the situation is quite the contrary. This Government has been involved for the past 12 months against the onslaught of the financial crisis. This would otherwise have been the case, had there been no changes to our policy, and each and every one of them has been rejected by the Opposition.