Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputies Timmins and Noonan.

The Government does not have and never had a mandate because at no time was a coalition of Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, the Progressive Democrats Party and Independent Deputies put to the people. I did not see one poster on a lamp post or a single statement from the parties in question putting forward this collection of failed political entities as an option for government in 2007. The Green Party explicitly stated it would not enter government with the Fianna Fáil Party and its supporters and members voted in the general election on that basis. Moreover, the party received a substantial number of transfers from other parties on the basis of that position.

Last week's elections were the first electoral judgment pronounced on the coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. The result was that a massive 73% of people voted against the Government, the Green Party's tally of city and county council seats was reduced from 18 to three and the party ended up without seats on the four local authorities in Dublin where it holds five Dáil seats. The party has been wiped out as a result of its association with the Fianna Fáil Party.

All talk from the benches opposite of continuing to fulfil the Government's mandate, as granted by the people, is nonsense. The electorate never granted this rag-tag coalition a mandate. A political mandate is sought to govern and can be given only by the people. The perverse collection of political parties in government never asked the people for permission to form a Government and the people firmly rejected it last Friday. The Green Party wishes to live in denial, to ignore the wishes of the people and to carry on business as usual. It has paid a heavy price for its deception, one which will not compare to the electorate's verdict at the next election if it continues to pretend it has a mandate to govern. The electorate delivered its motion of no confidence in Fianna Fáil and the Green Party last weekend.

The causes of Ireland's devastating economic problems lie firmly at the feet of the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen. The Economic and Social Research Institute has proven that Ireland's shrinking economy was partly caused by bad Government decisions stretching back to the early years of the decade.

As bad as the Fianna Fáil Party's record is, it does not come close to that of its partner in government, the Green Party. Ultimately, the latter's record will probably relegate it, like the Progressive Democrats Party before it, to the history books. Prior to the 2007 general election, the Green Party was in some senses radical. Having stood for the promotion of policies which would drive radical change, the party failed to deliver in the programme for Government and during its period in office in combination with the Fianna Fáil Party.

The Green Party's record in government has been anything but radical. It has decided to toe the Fianna Fáil Party line and the party's two Cabinet Ministers have chosen to hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. They are part of a cabinet that has botched three separate budgets and presided over the collapse of many key sectors. They debated and ultimately approved decisions to increase unfair taxes which will impact most on the lower paid and vulnerable; to impose new income levies to bail out Anglo Irish Bank; to remove medical cards from those aged over 70 years; to proceed with deep and indiscriminate cuts in the provision of many important social and health services for the most vulnerable; and to impose savage cuts in education which will increase class sizes and remove special needs teachers. The party was also complicit in the emasculation of the Equality Authority and Combat Poverty Agency, two bodies that are central to the protection of people on the margins of society, and for whom the Green Party thought it had stood up in the budget Estimates of 2009.

Statements by the leader of the Green Party, Deputy John Gormley, suggest the party is content to provide a political crutch to the Fianna Fáil Party and limp on in government until the next crisis. It appears content to stand by Fianna Fáil on these issues by relying on the mantra that it is in government to get Green Party policies implemented. It is a one-track political party which is incapable of seeing the bigger picture provided its Fianna Fáil masters allows Green Party Ministers to issue press releases announcing their latest policies, which merely tinker at the edge of the major environmental challenges the country faces. The people of Ireland last Friday delivered their verdict on that defence of Green Party participation in government.

The Green Party has become too redundant to justify keeping the Fianna Fáil Party in government. It has failed to deliver on its promises in the programme for Government, which I propose to examine. The party is effectively the cling-on party of politics, prepared to hang on to and protect Fianna Fáil for as long as possible. A promise to establish a new bio-fuel industry has fallen flat as a result of botched Government policy. The Government gives substantial subsidies for the importation from the United States of inferior bio-fuel rather than promoting indigenous plant operators and farming communities to grow crops. As a result, no one will invest in new facilities in Ireland.

The Green Party also failed to move the entire Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann fleets to bio-fuel blends. Government plans to ban old light bulbs have been abandoned in favour of European Union legislation to do its dirty work. Targets to improve energy efficiency in public buildings have been missed. The greatest public relations exercise of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, was first snubbed by the then Minister for Finance, the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, and later by his successor, Deputy Brian Lenihan, both of whom refused to deliver a carbon budget, leaving the Minister, Deputy Gormley, to try to pass off a glorified press release outlining Green Party policies and targets as a substantial document. The Green Party has some record. It is truly redundant and people have treated it in the same way they treated the most recent redundant political party, the Progressive Democrats, by pushing it to the verge of electoral extinction.

The Fine Gael Party, on the other hand, has in recent months developed a series of radical policies to which members of the public are responding positively. Our rebuilding Ireland strategy is primarily a green stimulus package that will secure both short-term and long-term jobs. Its implementation would cause the most profound change in the economy, transforming Ireland into a low carbon society. Our €11 billion investment programme would deliver significant State intervention to rapidly promote more sustainable energy and transport sectors, while bringing telecommunications into the 21st century.

The Fine Gael Party's plan to create new renewable energy companies will drive serious investment in emerging technologies such as ocean energy and increase market share in developing technologies such as wind. My party has also proposed that energy storage play a much greater role in renewable energy generation. Dealing with the dual challenges of climate change and economic recession will require new ideas, dynamic change and policies delivered by a party with a mandate from the electorate.

The Minister, Deputy Gormley, has a policy on political reform which can be summed up in one sentence, namely, to establish a directly elected mayor in Dublin without any idea of the powers or remit of the new office. In contrast, the Fine Gael Party has published a radical and detailed approach for local government reform and how we do our business in the Oireachtas.

Deputies can argue all day about whether the Green Party is radical or redundant but people made up their minds when they cast their vote of no confidence in the party last Friday. It is time for a fresh start under a new Government with a real as opposed to imaginary mandate to get the country and economy back on their feet. The Government does not have a mandate, as the electorate indicated to it last Friday, but refuses to listen. It is time to have a general election and accept the motion of no confidence in Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and the Independent Deputies which support the Government.

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