Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I thank the Labour Party for tabling this joint motion and I thank Deputy Rabbitte for sharing time.

The Taoiseach is not present, though he will speak later. His comment yesterday that the Opposition would suffer a heart attack if he called a general election indicated he is confused, and confusion is one of the symptoms of heart failure. I looked up a number of medical journals earlier and other symptoms include memory loss, a feeling of being sick to the stomach, pressure and palpitations, tiredness and fatigue, anxiety and restlessness and impaired thinking. These are the symptoms of the Government Members rather than the Opposition and, therefore, the likely candidates for heart failure are on the Government benches.

In addition, the Taoiseach stated the motion was "a rant" and that, apparently, we do not acknowledge what he calls "the good things". We most certainly do. First, we are proud to acknowledge that Ireland is a marvellous country, but it is a pity it is run so badly. Second, we acknowledge something equally marvellous, which is that even if the Taoiseach does not call an early election, his incompetent Government will still be gone inside 12 months. Third, we acknowledge something even better. I thank the Taoiseach for banging on and on about the economy in the newspapers today because that proves our point perfectly. His back-to-the-wall comments prove, beyond any doubt, that we need an election now because they show how utterly disconnected the Government has become from what worries people daily as they rear their children, run their businesses, care for their mother or father, go to work, commute for the equivalent of a day a week and pay the mortgage, the bills and their taxes.

People have every confidence in the economy, as they should, because it is theirs. They built it up and Deputy Rabbitte and I are making it perfectly clear to them that we will keep that economic success right on track. This is nothing new as we have done it previously and we will do it again. The last test of this was the first Government in 27 years to generate a budget surplus. In the short time the Government has left, it should give the people some credit. They know perfectly well that the Government did not gift them the economy and, therefore, the threat, "our Government gave you all this and a new government can take it all away" does not wash. It is a gross insult to their intelligence because no government in the world can create wealth, no matter what claims it makes to the contrary.

Instead, governments can and should create the best conditions to allow business to thrive and create and sustain wealth, and that is exactly what the next new government of the Fine Gael and Labour parties will do. We have published our ideas on the business proofing of all legislation to limit obstacles to growth. However, even better than that, we will get wealth working so that people can have the first-class services they are tired of waiting for and deserve, and the lack of which they raise constantly with public representatives, services such as, critically, health care when and where they need it, based on medical condition rather than how much they have in their pockets, more gardaí on the beat and proper educational facilities — 100,000 children are being taught in classes of more than 30 pupils and 33,000 students leave school with difficulties in reading and writing. At long last, people will see the success and the high standards of their personal lives reflected in the public space.

On 14 June 2004 the Taoiseach stated in the House:

I have worked throughout my political life to bring this country off its knees, from being an underdeveloped, third-rate country which nobody cared a damn about and which was riddled with violence. We are advancing.

His critique of his Government consists of ignoring the facts but, as it is Independence Day, I will recall Benjamin Franklin who stated, "Well done is always better than well said."

Despite what all the Government members say endlessly, expansively and expensively, the entire country knows the truth, which is that they have said an awful lot but they have done remarkably little. After nine years of spending €359 billion of people's hard earned money, the advances the Taoiseach talks about are not even a quarter of what they should be when it comes to the make-or-break issues in people's lives such as getting their health looked after when they need to, making the streets and communities safer, giving people a proper and decent chance to buy their own home, reining in the soaring cost of living and being part of a society with values at its heart. Fine Gael and the Labour Party have put forward detailed ideas in each of these areas.

The Government parties have had the power, time and money, but they did not address these issues and, therefore, if they could not do it in ten years, what in God's name makes them believe they could do in another five? They will not do so because they have failed to grasp two fundamentals. First, spending alone is part of the problem, not the solution. Deputy Rabbitte mentioned the €60 million spent on electronic voting, the €120 million bill of the PPARS debacle and the Ceaucescu-like Bertie bowl costing €100 million. This money could have been used to greater effect. Second, time alone, whether it is ten or 15 years, does absolutely nothing. What matters is what is done with the money and the time in planning, competence and coherence. In government, time and money do not achieve anything, as we have seen with this Government. It is about leadership, tough decisions, a reforming agenda, planning, strategy, responsibility, demanding value, taking charge and accepting responsibility. That is how results are achieved.

Serious violence is the only thing advancing in the country. On the watch of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, crime is up while detection is down. Many criminals carry on regardless and, the chances are, they will never be punished because they will never be caught. Glocks have become the weapon of choice while crime lords run their European empires from jail and sometimes they go global. Drive-by shootings, "hits" and gangland execution have, unfortunately, become an everyday part of life in some parts of Dublin.

The Government's incompetence is exceeded only by its arrogance because the Government parties are so out of touch with the people, their ignorance of what is really going on in their lives is encyclopaedic. Mr. Haughey, God rest him, had the measure of the Government. He stated that it is "The worst government in the history of the State; they have no plan; nothing works". He should know because he knew all the Government members so well. The Government parties have no plan and now we see why. I want to be clear about this because it is obvious that many of the problems Ireland faces have their genesis here. Today, Ireland is no longer governed by a two-party coalition. It is run by a federation of factions. The de Medici had nothing on the Government. This is a deluded, damaged and dysfunctional Government out of touch, out of order, and now almost out of time.

Last week, the Taoiseach might have administered his soothing ways to the not-so-sweet 16 smiling and shifting on the backbenches behind him. However, I assure him that between the heat on the doorsteps and the humidity in here, these fissures continue to fester.

Ego has shattered the fragile ecosystem of the Progressive Democrats. They are tearing each other apart. As they see it, everyone can be a leader so it is every man and woman for himself and herself. It reminds me, Deputy Cassidy, of the words of Julius Caesar, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings".

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