Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

This is another fine mess the Government has got us into but the sad thing about it is the taxpayer will have to clean up the mess. The Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen — the three greatest disasters that have ever hit this country — should resign. They are robbing the taxpayer because money will have to paid back as a result of this decision. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, will also cost the taxpayer because of the way he dealt with e-voting.

I congratulate the President and the Council of State on referring the legislation to the Supreme Court. The people know the Government is a disaster. Eight Supreme Court judges have said it is a disaster because it bullied the legislation through the Houses during Christmas week. Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats backbenchers voted with the Government, even when they knew there was a doubt about the Bill. Who advised the Government and what advice was given? How much were the advisers paid by the taxpayer?

I raised this issue on many occasions with the Ombudsman whom I congratulated at various meetings of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children because it was pointed out that every person in the State who had a medical card was entitled to a State bed. What will happen? The next court challenge will involve the relatives of medical card holders who had to provide the money to place them in nursing homes because the State did not have a bed for them. They will also have to be compensated.

The Minister outlined how much she would repay. When people had offshore accounts, the State charged them four times more than they should have paid. The Minister will repay €2,000 to those affected, regardless of what they are owed. We cannot have two laws in this land. If the three Ministers I mentioned were in office in Britain, they would be out the door this evening. The Prime Minister would not ask them as they would go themselves. They would put their heads down because they would know they had done wrong and would resign but in this country one would nearly have to shoot them to get rid of them. It does not matter because the Government is arrogant.

Will the Travers report be published before the by-elections? When will it be placed before the House? The Government has handled this issue badly in recent weeks. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is in my constituency on a sitting day. The Taoiseach and his Ministers are more interested in public relations and spinning themselves around the country than in attending the House to examine legislation.

The Minister for Health and Children and her predecessor should have done what they were told by legal advisers instead of robbing people but it was concealed. When the offshore accounts were concealed, people had to pay a price. The Government must pay a price. The Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children and her predecessor, Deputy Martin, should resign immediately because they have made a mess of this. They were told they had made a mess of it. The Supreme Court told them earlier they had done so. It is time for them to go. The Travis report should outline all the facts and the legal advice given to the Department.

Please do not bring the old people of this country down to the Four Courts because legal people have got enough money from the Government and we do not want to see any of these cases settled in the courts. An injustice has been done. The State robbed the elderly and the poor. The Government should pay back what it owes immediately. Let us not have the people going before the courts.

The Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, is new to the Department. He should do the right thing for the people. What is happening is terrible and the people are outraged. The Government parties took a belting at the polls in the recent local elections. They better hold on for the next three years because the people are angry and waiting for them. The opinions polls did not show this before the local elections but the same will happen when the general election is held. The Government Members are like the kings and queens of England. They think they will never be put out of power. They are so long in power they have become stale, arrogant and aggressive and it is time to get rid of them.

I recall when I entered the House that the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children used to lecture Fine Gael when we were in government. She was nearly crying every morning on the Order of Business. She was telling us how it should be done and the way it should be done. She has had an opportunity, not for two months or two years, but for more than seven years, even though she has only been in the Department of Health and Children for a short time. However, she is part of a Government which has made a mess of this issue. It is time the people responsible moved out.

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