Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I do not agree with the Deputy. We have not done the same things. We live in the land of reality. One cannot move into Government and change the entire country overnight. In times past a blank cheque was signed off to put the full extent of the bank debt onto the sovereign debt, which the citizens of this country have to pay for. Young people do not have the job opportunities I would like to see them have because of that.

In order to deal with the scale of the problem we have to reduce the debt burden and change the way the country has been run, including cost structures across a range of areas, which requires political decisions. No matter what one does, politics is always about people and political decisions affect their lives. From that perspective, when one talks about dead fish, I do not know whether the Deputy is referring to the famous English lord who gave his greatest insult to his mortal enemy by likening him to a rotten mackerel in the moonlight in that they shine and stink. I know the Deputy does not mean it that way but there are difficulties ahead. The Irish people are well capable of dealing with challenges and the Government will work with the people to get through this in order that young people can have a future in their own country if that is what they want.

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