Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Last night and tonight we saw the start of a campaign to spread fatalism about the country's capacity to do better. Government members want us to leave it to them. They say the Opposition cannot agree on policies or strategies and that we should leave it to them to manage technical change in the way they managed e-voting and the health computer systems. They say we should leave it to them to give people value for money, as they did with MediaLab Europe, Stadium and Sports Campus Ireland and the East and West Link toll bridges which bled people dry. They say we should leave it to them to deliver on their promises but the funny aspect about last night was that when it came to promises, there was a deafening silence from the benches opposite about the promises on which they had delivered.

What has happened to the high profile promises made, including those the then Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, made to the effect that waiting lists would be brought to an end in two years? Waiting lists were only brought to an end because the Minister stopped publishing them. The reality is that they got longer because people could not even get an appointment. They must wait for one. They are not even registered on the list.

What happened to the promise that we would have classes of 20 for children under nine years? That was another solemn promise made in the general election campaign and repeated in the programme for Government. The silence from those on the opposite side of the House was deafening as to what had happened to that promise.

We were told we would see a reduction in taxes and that one in five would pay tax at the 42% rate but over 225,000 taxpayers have been denied that promise. The promises were coming thick and fast from the Government but where was the strategy to deliver on them? There was none. That is why the people are sick of the Government.

The Government produced a health strategy in 2001 but it collapsed before it got off first base. It collapsed in respect of its promise of 3,000 extra hospital beds and that there would be 60 primary care centres. Every pillar of that strategy has disappeared.

Another major strategy was to complete decentralisation in three years. Ten thousand jobs were to be moved to the regions to deliver regional regeneration. What has happened to that strategy? It has collapsed also. There will be a delivery of 10% in the so-called three year strategy. The Minister will say the implementation committee said it could not be done. It said it could not be done because not a shred of thought had been put into producing a decentralisation strategy that could be delivered in three years. It was an abuse of power to bring forward that strategy without first putting together a business case for the moves, having a strategic plan as to how it would be delivered and anticipating the meltdown in key skills that was inevitable. These matters were not thought about. The strategy was put together on the back of a betting slip and, not surprisingly, it has not been delivered.

Not one Minister came into the House last night to step up to the plate and take responsibility for waiting lists not being brought to an end or to explain why we had not achieved the small class sizes promised or the reduced waiting times for patients in accident and emergency departments as was solemnly promised. The Government parties came into the House and tried to talk down the chances of the country doing better under a Fine Gael-Labour Party Government.

The truth is we do not accept the fatalism that has spread among the parties opposite. We do not accept that this is as good as it gets. The country could do a great deal better with a proper programme of well thought out reform, with Ministers taking responsibility for promises they make and having proper strategies when they make promises. That is the Government we want but sadly we have not seen it since 2001. The parties opposite have degenerated on that front.

It is difficult to take lectures from the Progressive Democrats about incoherence on the Opposition benches. That is from a man who meets every question with an open mouth and has burnt off the Government backbenches with his approach. It is difficult to take that strategy from the Government.

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