The Opposition sharply criticised the absence from the State during the taxi strike of the Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Molloy.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, who raised the matter, asked if it could be true that Mr Molloy had sought a pair to travel to Mexico for the inauguration of its President, "when the taxi issue is still up in the air, the taxi drivers are still on strike and traffic has never been worse".
He said he could not believe his eyes when he saw the request for the pair, "at a time when he is being undermined by the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy O'Dea, and by members of the Fianna Fail party".
Mr Molloy, he added, was displaying his complete lack of seriousness by going to Mexico. "What does he expect to learn in Mexico?"
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, outlined the developments following Mr Molloy's meeting with representatives of the taxi industry, adding that the Minister of State had a "long-standing commitment" in Mexico. The Secretary General of the Department of the Environment and Local Government had been designated to deal with the taxi strike. "The Minister, on his return, will take up the work, wherever it is at that stage. No time will be lost and there will be no delay."
Mr Bruton said: "Could there ever be more eloquent evidence that as far as Fianna Fail is concerned, Ministers do not matter, than that the Minister at the centre of the most difficult issue facing the country currently, the absence of a taxi service, can go to Mexico?
"That proves that politicians do not matter. The Taoiseach has 15 Ministers of State, any one of the other 14 could have gone to Mexico. Is this man serious at all? Are the Progressive Democrats serious at all that they would send one of their tiny band off to Mexico at a time when Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea, and his friends, are trying to reinstitute a regulation of a kind that is restrictive in an area where we need more taxis, not more restriction?"
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said it must be with incredulity that the State was learning Mr Molloy had a longstanding engagement and commitment to go to Mexico, "at a time when there is a crisis, at a time when we have this problem with the regulation of the taxi market and the liberalisation of the numbers that would participate in it".
He asked if Mr Ahern would recall Mr Molloy to resume the negotiations. "Or is it the case that the Government is on hold, that automatic pilot is operating on the Fianna Fail side, that it does not really matter who is the Minster as long as the permanent government, the secretary general, is there and that one does not really need Ministers?
"Is that what the Taoiseach is saying to the nation? Are none of the other colleagues capable of taking up this long-standing commitment in Mexico city? The Taoiseach has an obligation to inform the nation, through this House, when Minister of State Molloy will come back to resume negotiations."
Mr Ahern said Mr Molloy would return to Ireland in two days.
When Mr Bruton persisted in asking why Mr Molloy had gone to Mexico, Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said: "To learn about a Mexican stand-off."