Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

It does the country no justice whatsoever.

Put simply, what Deputy Eamon Gilmore has done in the past six months has not been to peddle the politics of hope. We have had too many Obama analogies in this House. This is Ireland, a sovereign state. President Barack Obama is an inspiration to us all but we have our own people to inspire and we must do it with homegrown talent. If that homegrown talent lives up its abilities, we will do that. However, we will not do it by peddling the politics of hope while really peddling the politics of hypocrisy. We do not need to feed on the fear and cynicism that is out there. We need to show leadership.

I say this to an almost empty Chamber but I say it anyway — let us think bigger, let us think about how we recover, let us think about how we work together rather than constantly carping at one another. It will be difficult. One has to defend oneself when one is insulted, but if Deputy Gilmore is serious about his offer to work together with the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, he should not say he will work with Fianna Fáil but only if Deputy Cowen is ditched. That shows a huge disrespect to the Taoiseach.

I have issues with Fianna Fáil, as I do with other political parties, as this House well knows. I am willing to take it on the chin when people slag off the Greens because that is what political discourse is about. The Greens are no Messiah or saviour and sometimes we are up our own backsides as well — that is true. I have often said and done things I should be ashamed of. At the same time, if people were willing to acknowledge the human frailties of the great talents in this House, we might get more done.

Rather than the arrogant posturing whereby Labour is willing to throw solutions the way of Fianna Fáil if it ditches Deputy Cowen, it should say that as of today there will be a new strategy for 12 months and that it is willing to work co-operatively. It should not seek to throw muck but to say to the people genuinely and honestly that these tough decisions have to be made, that it will try to get a consensus, work with the social partners and come up with the most equitable solution, but it is going to hurt — there is no other way for it.

When the time comes for the election, whenever it happens, the people can say it was Fianna Fáil and the PDs who were in government for most of the term, so let us blame them. The Greens will then say they are all a bunch of cute hoors who were taking corporate donations, and that is what encouraged the bankers and the developers. That is fair enough at election time. However, I guarantee the House this. The Greens take their responsibilities seriously in terms of getting us out of this crisis. We will not pull out simply to preserve our Dáil seats, and anyone hoping for an election on the back of some very positive polls could be waiting a long time. If Deputies Kenny and Gilmore must wait for such a considerable period, perhaps until 2012, before they get the opportunity to govern, then why not share the collective responsibility? Why not participate in a positive manner in governance without precondition? Let us remember that the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, is not in a position to engage in petty squabbles concerning who has what input. However, if the Fine Gael and Labour parties were genuine and agreed in the interests of the State to actively engage without precondition in a discourse and if they honestly and openly engaged with the electorate, with voters and with the ordinary people who are suffering, they would find the Taoiseach's door open.

If the Opposition was willing to enter into a Government of national unity, it could be a reality. The Green Party will discuss such a motion at its convention at the weekend and I believe it will be passed. However, it will only be a reality if people put aside the squabbles and look to the vision. Otherwise there will be five years of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party getting it in the neck, the Labour and Fine Gael parties continuing to ride high in the polls, the population disaffected and grumbling and the economy more of a basket case than ever because of the instability caused by the bickering. That is not the solution.

We must consider our legacy as legislators. Anyone present, watching on the monitor or reading the speeches may reflect on their legacy in 20 years time. The Tallaght strategy of Mr. Alan Dukes is now 22 years old. He is fondly remembered as a man without any ego. He is helping out Anglo Irish Bank as we speak. He is not averse to throwing in some, possibly well deserved, criticisms at the speed of the Government response. However, he has been judged kindly by history because he did the right thing. We must do the right thing now. That is why I urge people to work together in the spirit of tripartisanship. I do not expect it will occur. I expect that the Green Party will argue that we must implement policies for the next 20 years which will create jobs, preserve the planet and ensure our economic stability in 20 years time and if we lose our seats that is fine. We can look back in 20 years time and reflect on the matter then.

Unfortunately, the Green Party is but a small party of the Government. We must have a wider vision. We require expertise from all areas. We have a contribution to make and we are pleased to make it. We will criticise where there is a need to criticise and we will take it in the face when necessary too. The talents of the likes of Deputies Richard Bruton, Enda Kenny, Eamon Gilmore, Pat Rabbitte and Joan Burton are under-utilised at present. The cliches come easily because that is all we are dealing with at present in this cynical House. It is very easy to sit on the fence when there is electoral gain to be made from that. We must face some home truths and realities. We must put money into the banking sector whether or not we like it and we may have to invest more money in future. We know what caused the problem globally and what contributed to the problem locally. In that context we must deal with the situation piece by piece. We must be careful not to allow the current €18 billion borrowings to spiral out of control.

The situation has not been painted in terms stark enough. The average person does not really understand the purpose of the International Monetary Fund. It is not about giving a dig out to poor auld Ireland Inc. That money is wrung out. The fund will twist arms and squeeze the blood out. It will come from the jobs here, especially from the public sector. I spoke on the pension levy acknowledging why it is necessary, although I regret that it had to be applied. I acknowledge that it should be tweaked, either now or in the forthcoming budget. We must show leadership.

I return to this point because it is important. I may sound like a broken record, but if the people are to have trust in the collective elite, there is a need for Dáil reform, cutbacks in expenses and proper vouched systems. I do not believe I am elite but Members are perceived to be elite and to receive a great deal of money, perks and benefits. In some cases we do and this has all been said before.

Last night, I attended a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy John Curran who is a very honourable politician who succeeded despite the culture of corruption in his constituency. To my knowledge, he has never taken a corporate donation and is the epitome of the modern Fianna Fáil politician. I wish the culture of that party was more akin to the personality of the Minister of State, Deputy Curran. I say as much as a friend and without patronisation, because our friendship extends back to the council in 1999. Preceding that council, in the areas where I grew up, namely, Lucan, Palmerstown and later in Clondalkin, Newcastle, Saggart and Rathcoole, there was a culture whereby donations were handed out to politicians of all parties and willingly taken. In some cases such donations were corruptly taken as the tribunals have shown. Unfortunately, the mentality in respect of corporate donations still seems to be "a head in the sand" approach.

I raised the issue of the necessity to ban corporate donations, or at least the need to refuse to accept them within the Labour Party. Perhaps it does not receive a great deal from the banks and developers, although there are some instances of that, but certain trade unions are its paymasters. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil consistently take money from corporate vested interests, including bankers and developers.

During the debate last night, it was no surprise when Senator Frances Fitzgerald contradicted a point I made concerning the need to ban corporate donations. One need only consider her election campaign. She spent €31,000 trying, unsuccessfully, to get a seat in Dublin Mid-West, whereas I spent approximately €10,000. I do not suggest she was remiss, but she had a wider fund available from which to pay for her campaign. When discussing the issue of corporate donations, she spoke directly to the audience with hand on heart and asked if they would rather that the taxpayer funded political parties. Many of those in the audience, which met to discuss education issues, seemed to agree, because the argument was simple. The argument was if politicians do not take corporate donations, the taxpayer must foot the bill and people have paid politicians enough already. That was the mentality. I wish to respond to the comments of Senator Fitzgerald. In reality, the taxpayer has paid for those corporations ten times over. Through corporate donations there was a process of land speculation, rezoning and corruption. This fed into the culture which encouraged bankers and developers to become so greedy and to leave us in the mess in which we find ourselves. The taxpayer paid a good deal more than otherwise would have been the case if corporate donations had been banned. That is why I fundamentally disagree with Senator Fitzgerald. I call on all Members of the House to try to work more cooperatively. It is still possible to get the dig in but we must sell a common message to the people, that is, we are in this together. We should blame those responsible later on, but for now we need to recover. Let us think bigger.

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