Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Nothing illustrates the nature of this coalition more than the programme for Government. It accurately reflects the mandate, or lack of mandate, which the two Progressive Democrats got in the election. It is not exactly surprising when one considers that this time the Progressive Democrats did not attempt to negotiate a programme for Government. Consider what their predecessors did and how much they achieved in Governments with Fianna Fáil in the past. Now, they saw power and went straight for it. The "policy driven" party has finally morphed into the power driven party.

The strongest Green Party input I can discern in the programme for Government is that it has saved a substantial section of some rain forest by managing to cut and paste so much of the Fianna Fáil manifesto, word for word, into this programme after ten days and nights of intensive discussion. It is difficult to see why it took so long to agree it. Any mess had more to do with scissors and glue than anything about policy. The Green Party has bought the Fianna Fáil manifesto, lock, stock and three pork barrels. It has swallowed huge chunks of Fianna Fáil policy, with all its failings in health and other vital public services. The Green Party has sacrificed its unique political identity, swapping principle for power.

What is the result? Are there specific commitments on key Green Party policies? No. Are there assurances of a strategic shift in Fianna Fáil thinking on the green agenda? No. The programme is full of promises to review, examine and consider policies. All of them are worthy but ultimately useless when it comes to forcing specific decisions in Government. The Green Party will discover, for example, that a promise from Fianna Fáil to publish a Green Paper on local government reform is just that, and no more. Fianna Fáil has, over the years, perfected the art of publishing reports and leaving them sitting on shelves. The Minister, Deputy Martin, produced 102 of them when he was responsible for health and they are still gathering dust and cobwebs.

That is how Fianna Fáil deals with policies it does not wish to implement. Whichever Member of the Green Party becomes leader of that party has wandered into a parlour where the spider knows exactly how to play the web. Fianna Fáil has had ten years of practice; ask cystic fibrosis sufferers, the women waiting for BreastCheck to come to their area and cancer sufferers waiting for radiotherapy. The Green Party has signed up and its Members have their ministerial jobs. They forgot that they should be men of values as distinct from men of success.

I believe the Green Party has made a fundamental political mistake. It has the mistaken view that what little it has achieved in the programme for Government can be dramatically expanded by it in Cabinet. Deputy Cuffe said today that the Green Party would change the way the Government does its business. This demonstrates a naivety about how Government works. History shows that any smaller party entering coalition without specific, tangible commitments will struggle once the day-to-day, hurly burly of governing begins. There is no better man to define that in beautiful terms than the Minister, Deputy Brennan. He has been around this course previously and he knows, as a chief negotiator, where those boys have been put in the last ten days.

Yes, they will have a voice. In the end, however, as with the two Progressive Democrats, it will be their master's voice. There are no better masters to let the servant take a hiding to save themselves. They might be the golden boys in the new Administration and give it a nice gloss — they deserve their short holiday — but soon they will find out what it is to become the whipping boys of Government when things start to go wrong. One thing is sure, however. Throughout the country Fianna Fáil parents can relax because they can be sure that when their Fianna Fáil sons and daughters are in Dublin, they will certainly be eating their greens.

There has been much talk from the Government side over the past month about the need for stability and, on every occasion, that mantra is related to the numbers supporting the Government. History, however, suggests that it is not numbers that ensures stability but trust between the parties in Government. The Fianna Fáil-Labour Party Government of 1992 to 1994 had over 100 seats. That Government ended because trust broke down. The preceding Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government also broke down because of a failure of trust. The last Government almost broke up three times — twice last autumn and again during the election campaign on the issue of the Taoiseach's finances.

The two parties now supporting the Taoiseach, the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats, were the most vocal in seeking explanations from him during the election campaign. The explanation eventually put forward by the Taoiseach has since been flatly contradicted by the opening statement of the Mahon tribunal on 28 May, four days after polling day. The failure of the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats to resolve that contradiction sows the seeds of mistrust and instability in this Government. It is a decision they have taken with their eyes wide open, and they will be held accountable for that decision in the months ahead. I wonder if Deputy Gormley knew at the Green Party conference that he would be replacing former Deputy Michael McDowell, the politician he called the Tammy Wynette of Irish politics, so intent was he in standing by his man.

This dolly mixture Government is also costing the taxpayer millions of euro in secret political deals. The Taoiseach warns of economic challenges ahead but at the same he is lashing out "millins", as Deputy Healy-Rae would say, so that he can buy the support of the independent Deputies.

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