Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I oppose this item. In the past session we were promised 21 Bills and we have seen only five of them. In respect of three of those, the Appropriations Bill, the Social Welfare Bill and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill, the Government was statutorily obliged to produce them because of the timing issues. Of the remaining, the Government produced only two Bills out of a total of 19. That is not a record the Government can reflect on and say it has delivered to this House the sort of legislation on which we can have meaningful debate about issues of serious concern.

It is not good intentions that determine the effectiveness of the Government; it is results. On this measure the Government has not delivered results. It has not delivered results on zero tolerance, zero waiting lists or children in classes of 20 yet it has asked ordinary families to come up with €7,500 more than they used to pay in tax. That is the acid test. This Government is not delivering on its own promises, nor is it delivering for the amount of money it is raising. It has failed in its legislative programme. It does not deserve the support of this House, nor does it deserve to go off on the Christmas break and hide behind a debate it proposes to have when we resume in which there will be no accountability on the part of the Taoiseach or Ministers and no opportunity for the Opposition parties to have a debate. We oppose this motion.

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