Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Yesterday, the leader of Fine Gael told us tabling a motion of no confidence is not something one does every day. In that he is right, but it is the only right thing he said. It is, of course, the right of the Opposition to table a motion of no confidence when it believes it is truly warranted in the national interest, but it is not something to be done for mere narrow political advantage.

Let us be frank. What we are engaged in this week, and the sanctimonious posturing to which it gives rise, is a misuse of Dáil time. It is nothing more than a crude attempt by Fine Gael to showcase the electoral gains it made last weekend, rather than doing the peoples' business here in this Chamber.

That is not only my view. It is clear that was the view of many within the Labour Party. They see and recognise this week's charade for what it is. I saw Deputy Burton on television over the weekend expressing her concerns that Fine Gael's rush to table a motion of no confidence was only deflecting the House from doing what it should be doing. It is to be regretted that the wiser voices in the Labour Party were not listened to and that it meekly went along with Fine Gael. I hope for its sake that this is not an indication of how its relationship with Fine Gael will develop in the future.

While Fine Gael and the Labour Party may be at odds on what they should be doing this week, it is clear from their contributions that they are at idem on one issue. Deputy Kenny and Deputy Gilmore obviously believe we should tear up the Constitution and have a general election now. They believe this because it suits them. Their argument is that the Government has lost its mandate to govern, because of the bad results suffered by both the Fianna Fáil Party and the Green Party in the local and European elections.

The Deputies on the other side of the House are entitled to their own opinions and views - when they have them – but they are not entitled to their own facts. The Constitution is crystal clear. The people gave a mandate at the general election in 2007. All parties contesting those elections put forward programmes based on five year timeframes. None of the parties opposite included a proviso in their 2007 manifestos stating the ongoing implementation of their policies and programmes would be subject to their parties not losing European or council seats in 2009.

Back then, they were not proposing two-yearly electoral cycles, alternating between local and general elections. They know such a concept is a self-evident absurdity. They know general, and not local or European, elections decide who will govern. So too do the people. To come in here and try to assert otherwise only serves to debase politics at a time when all politicians on all sides of the House are held in fairly low esteem.

Whatever about coming in here tabling pointless motions of no confidence, the leaders of the Opposition are most certainly not entitled to assert that the Government is indifferent to the anger or hurt being felt by people. I require no lectures or speeches from anybody on any side of the House about how the people of this country feel. We know they are hurting. We know they are angry at how our economic fortunes have declined. They are frightened and worried deeply at the scale of the job losses and the prospect of more to come.

Parents are fearful that their sons and daughters may have to join the dole queues or emigrate, despite the huge moneys they have invested in their education. Families are worried about the prospect of losing an income and the significant difficulties they would face in meeting mortgage and other repayments. For the past months the public has been hearing the Opposition telling them that the Government does not care and is the cause of all that is wrong in the country today.

The Opposition forget to mention the fact that we recorded budget surpluses in ten of our 11 budgets. There is no mention of the fact that we invested 80% of our resources in health, education and welfare. There is no mention of the fact that we slashed our national debt by more than two thirds. There is no mention of the fact that we put 3,500 extra garda on the streets, 10,000 extra nurses and doctors in our hospitals and 7,000 more teachers in our schools, and created 10,000 SNA posts.

There is no mention of the fact that we have invested heavily in our schools and public transport infrastructure. There is no mention of the fact that we have cut direct taxes and protected the vulnerable with a generous and comprehensive social welfare system. There is no mention of the fact we put money aside for the future in the pension reserve fund, which is now proving invaluable in our current financial crisis.

Most importantly, there is no mention of the fact that Fine Gael and the Labour Party are on record as having policies advocating that we should spend some 50% more than we spent over the past ten years.

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