Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The premature and tragic deaths of my constituency colleague, Séamus Brennan, and Tony Gregory have created the vacancies in the Dublin South and Dublin Central constituencies. In the context of the time that has elapsed, it is only reasonable, right and proper that the electorate in those constituencies has the opportunity to have full representation in this House and use the by-elections, which need to take place, as an opportunity to express their view on the competence of the Government and the manner in which it is handling the economic crisis and its responsibility for the extent of the economic crisis it has inflicted on this country.

If this were a Government with any sense of courage and which recognised the importance of political accountability, we would not be having two by-elections on 5 June but a general election because the country is calling out for one and is demanding that this Government go. It is clear that the Government, which substantially contributed to the crisis in which we find ourselves, is not the Government which can get us out of that crisis.

All the hand-wringing in the world from the Green Party disclaiming responsibility for where we now find ourselves lacks any shred of credibility. The Green Party has been part and parcel of this incompetent Administration for almost two years. It was party to the profligate budget of December 2007, the failed financial initiatives taken in July 2008 and the appallingly incompetent and foolish decision to enter a new social partnership agreement in August 2008. This Government composed of Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and the remnants of the Progressive Democrats shares responsibility for out disastrous economic plight and the growing lines of the unemployed.

In recent weeks there have been mutterings from the Government that these two by-elections will not take place on 5 June. There have been mutterings to the media, unattributable to anyone in particular, suggesting they will be postponed until October. If this motion does nothing other than force the Government into recognising the essential constitutional obligation to move the writs to enable these two by-elections to be held, it will at least have achieved something. This Government should recognise the need to give the electorate an opportunity to voice its view on its performance and to give the people in Dublin South and Dublin Central an opportunity to have full representation in this House.

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