Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Listening to ministerial contributions to this debate has been astonishing. Ministers and Ministers of State do not seem to realise that last Friday's election was seen by the general public as a referendum on the Government. The public does not care if, for tribal reasons in the House, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party will vote confidence in themselves alongside the remnants of the Progressive Democrats and the odd Independent supporter. The public has lost confidence in the Government, for which reason Fine Gael tabled a motion of no confidence.

What Ministers and Ministers of State do not seem to recognise is something that the public has long since sussed, namely, that the Government is responsible for a catastrophic failure of political governance. The Government has perpetrated a disaster on the country. The Green Party may want to say that it is not responsible for any of this because it all preceded its time in office in 2007, but its Members are part of the problem, not the solution. Their Ministers are collectively responsible for the incompetence displayed by the Government in the past two years. The only priority that I can glean from the contributions made by Ministers and Ministers of State is that of Government survival. It is regarded as a greater priority than the country's survival.

Ministers are deluding themselves into believing they can perform a function. Given their wrong-headed approach to banking issues, there is widespread public concern that the economy will continue to collapse and jobs will continue to be lost because our banks are being turned into zombie banks. We have a zombie Government. Some of its long-standing members are so institutionalised and self-serving that they are incapable of original thought or of introducing change.

Yesterday evening, the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party held a post mortem of the election. The resultant words of wisdom were to the effect that Fianna Fáil's problems had nothing to do with the Government's incompetence or the public's view. Rather, the Chief Whip claimed that Fianna Fáil needed a better organisation, given its systems failure. That failure is at the heart of the Government and its component parties will continue to do damage to the State if they remain in government.

The Green Party expected the electorate to give it a fool's pardon in the election. It seems to be astonished that it has lost seats. However, it is as responsible for the attack on the vulnerable as is Fianna Fáil. In seeking to tackle major economic issues, small decisions have been made to save small sums of money by targeting people aged over 70 years and children with special needs and by curtailing the schools building programme and medical services across the board, including at a primary children's hospital in Dublin. Green Party Members believed that, since they had a greater interest in cabbages than hospitals, jobs and pay, they would be forgiven by the electorate. They now believe that they will visit their grassroots and have a conversation on what to do next. The Green Party might discover that its grassroots have shrivelled and died and that its Members are now consigned to the compost heap of political history. It is rotting at a faster rate than its predecessors in keeping Fianna Fáil in government, namely, the Progressive Democrats. As the sun sinks slowly in the west, the Green Party will enter the political twilight of its term in government.

The people want change. They are demanding that an incompetent, institutionalised and self-serving group that has been trying to hold onto the reins of power should leave Government. The public wants a different Government led by Deputy Kenny as Taoiseach. Government parties have no understanding of the concept of accountability to the people or the House. By holding onto power, the Government is giving the political two fingers to the electorate, which voted in great numbers, as the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, stated. He seemed to believe that politics in the context of governance was doing well because so many people voted. He missed the fact that so many voted because they wanted to remove the Government parties. They also voted because they realised the extent to which those parties, of which Fianna Fáil has been in government for 20 years of the past 22 years, have undermined the concepts of democratic accountability in the House and its functions.

In my remaining minutes, I will address an issue raised this morning. Concerns have been expressed about Government policy on Anglo Irish Bank. As a consequence of nationalisation, it is the people's bank. It was extraordinary that the Taoiseach was unable to tell the House this morning how many of the bank's senior managers had borrowed substantial amounts from it, including those who had done so to dabble in property developments and investments.

I wish to bring to the notice of the House something about which I have serious concerns. It is correct to say this bank is now barely trading, but it is trading in some respects. It is trying to seduce existing customers and business people into buying into property developments, at prices which are higher than are realistic, by offering them easy loans. There is now a conflict of interest in the manner in which this bank is trading.

I have particular concerns that those in senior management positions in Anglo Irish Bank, who have borrowed money from it to invest in property developments in conjunction with developers to whom this bank has lent money, are seeking purchasers for developments in which they may themselves have a personal interest. There is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed, namely, the extent to which those who are working in Anglo Irish Bank and have borrowed money from it can continue to deal with customers who seek borrowings for the purpose of buying some of the assets the bank has an interest in as a consequence of giving loans to developers and seeking loans from the bank themselves to purchase such assets. That is an issue I want investigated.

The truth is, as Deputy Bruton put it so well, that there are people outside this House who are in significant financial difficulties. Thousands and thousands of people have lost their jobs. The number of unemployed stands at more than 400,000 and is likely to be 500,000 before the end of this year. In my constituency, young couples and single persons in their late 20s and early 30s who, individually, own hundreds of apartments as their family homes and are now in substantial negative equity.

Many people are locked into borrowings on properties, the values of which have collapsed, and are in circumstances in which they cannot re-negotiate the loans they have obtained. This is a Government which has shown no ability to address the real problems being confronted by people outside this House as a consequence of its profligate spending and the structural deficit it has created. The Government should go. This House should vote no confidence in this Government. The Ministers within it should stop hanging onto office by their fingernails and staying for no reason other than their own personal benefit and gratification.

See this speech in context