James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Bruton, on bringing this motion to the House and I thank him for this opportunity to address the House. When I last spoke on the financial situation in this House I said it was the greatest financial crisis facing our State since its foundation, and it is clear to everybody that it was no exaggeration. We have nationalised Anglo Irish Bank, despite the fact that we did so with one hand tied behind our backs and half blind to most of the facts, which are slowly coming out. We are losing 40,000 jobs per month at a cost of €1 billion to the Exchequer, we have put a further €7 billion into Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland and our reputation internationally is in shreds.

We now know how we got to this sad and sorry point. We got here because of an incompetent Government led by a Taoiseach who was full of bluster, was asleep at the wheel when he was Minister for Finance and allowed all those behind him to fall into a stupor, including his regulators. The nod-and-wink cronyism which has been at the centre of this Government for the last 20 years, bar two, is the ethos that has led us to where we are today. This morning the Taoiseach told the Dáil that last year the HSE made great savings of €280 million. He neglected to say the number of people lying on trolleys is as great as it was when it was considered a national emergency and that we have had a 30% increase in waiting times on the waiting lists and a 10% increase in cancelled operations. Well done to the HSE for budget balancing that hits patient safety and needs, but shows no sign of the redundancies of which the Minister for Health and Children spoke last year, which she now tells us are a matter for the Minister for Finance. How is that for progress after a year of talking about it? More plans for the future are being substituted for real action today.

The Taoiseach gives the impression that his Government has a sense of urgency about our financial irregularities, but here is the reality. A year ago it knew about share transactions involving the golden circle trying to prop up the Anglo Irish Bank share price and manipulate the market. In October it knew about the transaction between Irish Life & Permanent and Anglo Irish Bank but sent in the fraud squad only yesterday because of public opprobrium and outcry. Up to this point this Taoiseach and his Government were happy with the three monkeys approach: hear no evil, see no evil and, above all, speak no evil. We all know how effective the Government is at looking where there is nothing to be found. We need only remember the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, looking up every tree in north Dublin.

Owing to the short time I have been here I cannot outline Fine Gael's plan for recovery as Deputy Bruton did so eloquently yesterday other than to say Ireland Inc. internationally has a stink. That smell will not be lifted until all those responsible for it are cleared out. That means the regulators who have failed us so miserably, the bankers, who with their cosy cartel and boards of directors have cleaned us out, Government agencies such as FÁS which have misspent our money and, most of all, this Government because it has been embedded at the centre of this for the past 12 years. This Government's public service levy has served only to divide our community between public and private sector workers and is a blunt instrument that hurts many people. We need strong leadership that unites, not divides, our people.

We need a new Government with a clear mandate from the people based on transparency, accountability and fairness. All information should be laid out for all to see. There should be no more of this drip-feed and news management that has been so typical of this Government. It is no wonder the HSE alone spent €51 million on spin doctors instead of patient services. We all remember when Transport 21 was behind schedule the Government's decision was to spend another couple of million euro explaining to the people why that was so instead of getting on with the job.

A new Government should bring accountability. All those guilty of misdemeanours in the financial sector need to be brought to book, charged and dealt with by the law. Those found guilty should be punished and hurt where they feel it most, not just with jail but in their pockets. They should not be allowed to walk away with large pensions. The vast majority of people working in our banking service are hard-working, honest people and they are also victims of this sharp practice.

A new Government should be based on fairness, so we can all join in this together to seek to bring our country back to its rightful place where it can deliver health, wealth and education for all, where everybody shares the pain and, most importantly, when the turnaround comes, as it surely will, everybody shares the gain, not just the elite. I commend the motion to the House.

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