Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I have no confidence in the Government. Last Friday, the people gave their verdict on the Government and regardless of whether it likes it, the local elections were a referendum on its stewardship of our economy. Over the past nine years, the Government has presided over an economy for which the people are now paying the price.

I have listened to the contributions of many Deputies on this debate. It seems to me that the theme coming from the Government benches is that the Fine Gael and Labour Party policies do not knit. I have news for the Government. The debate is not about our policies, but about how the Government has presided over the economy and the mess it has made of it. The people are realistic. They know there is a gaping hole in the public finances and that it will not disappear overnight. They recognise that hard choices must be made, but would have preferred if the choices took another direction. They are disgusted by how the country has been led to the point it is at today.

The Government failed to address the wastage in our public services. The Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, who is present, presides week after week over an abysmal litany of waste. The Government failed to focus on energy costs and failed to reform public services. Over the years it has let public services grow out of control. We are now faced with a situation where, rather than focus on reform of the public service, it has decided taxpayers must fund the deficit.

The vote last Friday was a vote of no confidence in the Government, but the Government just does not get it. We read in this morning's papers about the meeting of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party. Fianna Fáil has said it intends to change and become a campaigning organisation that will revitalise the Fianna Fáil Party. They do not get it. That is not what the people voted on. They were not concerned that the Fianna Fáil was not a campaigning organisation or that it needed revitalisation. The people in my constituency spoke by voting out three Fianna Fáil councillors. These were long-serving councillors whose names have long been associated with the Fianna Fáil Party. There was nothing wrong with their campaign or with their work over the past five years, but the people did not vote for them. The people were registering their objections to the failed policies of the Government.

With regard to the Green Party, its members will tell the party exactly where they think it should go. I am confident the Green Party will be told to pull out of the Government and go to the people and let them give a government a mandate. The Government we have currently does not have a mandate from the people. Let us have a general election. Let Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, the Labour Party, Sinn Féin, Independents and Fine Gael go out and put their policies to the people. Let the people make a decision. The current Government is on its last legs and the sooner we have a general election, the sooner we will have a government in place that has the confidence of the people. The Government does not have the people's confidence currently. I do not have confidence in the Government and the people who voted in my constituency last Friday do not have confidence in it. I am here to deliver that voice. I hope the Government will recognise the fact that they have lost the confidence of the people and failed the country.

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