It is extraordinary that a Government which has the biggest majority in the history of the State and which was all set to go right up to Easter 2016 is starting to get so wobbly that we wonder whether it will make the Whit weekend. It has been really shaken by the revelations, mainly but not only in the Department of Justice and Equality. As my party's acting leader, Senator Paschal Mooney, stated, we have no ill will towards the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter. I found him personable to deal with. He just seemed to have got caught up in so many problems and, eventually, he tripped up.

I congratulate Deputy Frances Fitzgerald on her appointment. She is a well liked Minister and a competent person.

I also congratulate Charlie McDonald on his promotion.

Deputy Charles Flanagan.

I apologise, Deputy Charles Flanagan. That might have been a forecast.

These are tough times in politics. Another extraordinary point is that a great deal of the heavy lifting has been done. In fairness to the Government, it has carried out the Brian Lenihan blueprint for recovery almost to the letter and it has been successful. However, now that this is out of the way, members of the Government appear to be playing silly buggers with one another. The Labour Party is playing silly buggers internally and one side is leaking against the other to the media on a regular basis, but that is as it may be.

It is a quiet day and I will bring up a matter I have raised several times previously, namely, the Shannon liquefied natural gas, LNG, project in north County Kerry. The Deputy Leader has listened to me speak on this subject previously, but she might relay this point to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, one more time. This is a project of huge importance for the economy of the mid-west, for economic security and, in particular, for the area around Ballylongford, which has been greatly depopulated due to emigration and lack of employment. The project will guarantee 500 jobs at construction stage and up to 100 permanent jobs thereafter. I was mayor of Kerry County Council in 2004 at the genesis of this project, yet many years later, not a single hole has been dug in the ground. I believe much of this has to do with intransigence and that were this project located somewhere inside the Pale, perhaps in Poolbeg, the Fingal area of Dublin or somewhere like that, there would have been a great deal more engagement and focus on it. I again appeal to the Deputy Leader to take up the matter with the Minister who might come into the House to give Members a revised overview on what he thinks is happening with the project.

I join my colleagues in paying tribute to the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, who was a reforming and hard-working Minister. It is a great pity; he will be a great loss to politics and I wish him and his family well. I also congratulate his successor, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, as well as the incoming Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Charles Flanagan. I look forward to working with them in their new portfolios. Members must now start to work with the new Ministers and continue the job that has been started.

I welcome the recent news from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, that farmers who are forced to sell entitlements before 15 May will be exempt from capital gains tax. This will be worth an average of €7,000 per farmer to approximately 6,400 farmers. This is extremely good news because all Members have been contacted in recent months by farmers who were forced into a situation in which they were unable to use their entitlements or had been leasing them out in recent years and had no option but to sell them off. There was a risk that capital gains tax would be applied in that respect and consequently, this is very good news and will be a great saving for the farming community.