Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

The Government has failed to understand why we are debating a confidence motion in it. I welcome the opportunity to have this debate. The reason we are having it is that two years ago when the Government was elected it signed a contract with the people to do X, Y and Z. It made commitments and promises and people accepted them and voted in the Government. Last Friday people voted in a totally different way. People went in their thousands to the polling stations and voted against the Government. In the heartland of Fianna Fáil in my constituency its members got elected by two votes in the last seat in five seaters. That happened last week because the people were angry and frustrated with the Government.

If democracy means anything, an election should be called and people should be given an opportunity to have their say because the contract has been broken badly. Some fine people, including members of Fianna Fáil, lost their seats across the country, not because of their hard work but because of the Government. That was the reason people in their thousands voted against Fianna Fáil last week. People no longer want this Government. In every second household to which I called between Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Cahir and other places across the constituency people were waiting for members of the Government parties because of the Government's mismanagement of the country. The Government has failed totally to accept the voice of the people.

A huge number of people are unemployed. In my constituency alone, 7,699 people are on the live register. The Government has no plan of action to get us out of the recession. It has no plan to make necessary improvements to services or to attract tourists to the country at a time when many hotels across the country are closing down. Two weeks ago I stood outside Tipperary Co-op with 300 angry farmers who are now getting only 17 cent a litre for milk when they were getting 40 cent. They were frustrated. The banks are on their backs. The Government is doing things the people do not want. If democracy means anything, and if we mean what we say about listening to the voice of the people, we must listen to the people who voted in their thousands against the Government last week. People would give the Government a chance if it admitted its failure, apologised and said it would do things differently. However, the Government is not prepared to do that and that is what is killing it.

Local authorities are strapped for cash. The roads are in disarray. The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism spoke earlier about all the money that was invested in infrastructure. That will all go to waste because there is no money in any of the local authorities to do their basic work. The Government is very sure it will win the confidence motion. If it does, it should do things differently and tell the people that, because that is what they want. The Government would be reneging on the contract it made if it does not change the way it does its business.

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