Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I was going to leave the Opposition until last. According to Fianna Fáil, it is not its fault. Its supporters were out on Saturday night. Poor David Davin-Power was not able to give his report. They were like the Mafia gathered around him, afraid he would say something wrong that would upset Fianna Fáil. I listened to Fianna Fáil Ministers as they told us weekly — I am in the House a few years now — that Fianna Fáil had created the boom. It created the boom but busted the country. The Progressive Democrats were the moral conscience of the country. Where is the party now? It is no more, yet we have a Progressive Democrats Minister for Health and Children. She should be gone, with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party.

The people are looking for vision. They want leadership and the country to survive. They want to keep their jobs and help the economy, but what are they getting? There is no leadership. There is a budget every week or month. The Government has lost its way and has no ideas. I heard political commentators, some former Fine Gael members, say we needed a Government with experience. The Government has been in place for 12 years and has lost the run of itself. Ministers are flying around in helicopters while the country is going down the tubes. A Minister was not able to drive from Dublin or Waterford to attend a conference in Killarney in a State car. He had to have a helicopter bring him there.

The Government does not realise what is happening in the country, but I have a message for the Minister of State. The people are waiting in the long grass for an opportunity to vote on the Taoiseach because he was not elected by them but by Fianna Fáil. We need an election to clear the Government out and bring in a new one, one with new thinking and ideas to try to give confidence to the people who are crying out for leadership and good government and want to play their play. They believe the Government is not playing its part. Those in government should listen to their constituents. Fianna Fáil back benchers are not even attending public meetings or holding clinics. They are afraid to meet the people because they know they are waiting for them. The people are angry and afraid and want a new Government. We all say we want an election because we need one now to clean out the Government and bring in a new one with new ideas.

Fine Gael had to clean up the mess before and bring the country back from the brink. We are ready and able and have Members on these benches who are well capable of being Ministers and leading the country out of the depression and recession and building it up again to be a good nation, not one destroyed by the builders and bankers. Fianna Fáil has destroyed the country and the people will talk to it shortly.

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