Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I welcome two new Deputies to the House, Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan who is present, and Deputy George Lee who spoke in the Chamber this morning. It is a great privilege to be elected to the House. Walking across the plinth having been elected is a singularly great honour. I extend best wishes to the new Deputies, both of whom have much to add to our deliberations.

I am pleased to contribute to this debate. Motions of no confidence are serious matters which should be taken seriously. They are not opportunities for shouting at each other, heckling, cartoon politics or cheap stunts but means of putting forward our particular perspectives, especially in the context of the serious economic challenges facing the country. It is a fact and not an excuse that the world is facing its most serious economic crisis since the 1920s and 1930s.

Ireland is no different from many other countries although our economic difficulties may have been compounded by some issues relating to property here. However, as an exporting country dependent for its survival on 80% of what we produce being sent abroad, we are more adversely affected by the economic crisis that almost any other country in the world. The German economy, which exports 40% of what it produces, will contract by 6% this year. No country will get out of its problems if its simply laments its mistakes, loses it nerve or does not concentrate on its core competencies.

This country has the capacity to see its way through the most difficult economic challenges of our time. We have done it before and we know what needs to be done. We are a country that can design products. We can innovate, market, sell and produce them. We can service our customers. We can deal with the supply chain from beginning to end. The debt-GDP ratio, the size of the budget deficit or solving the banks are merely enablers to allowing our companies to innovate and to be able to trade, and that is how we will generate employment. Our employment opportunities will come from export growth.

Clearly, the Government has been focused. There has been robust debate within Government and we are focused on one matter and one matter alone, that is, doing the best in the national interest. We are not bailing out banks and builders. We are simply trying to save this economy as without a sound banking system, we cannot have a sound economy. The challenges we face are being faced by other countries around the world, but I remain confident that we can see our way through them. Leadership requires us to make difficult decisions.

I will end by saying this because I do not want to take too much of the time allocated to the Minister for Finance. Deputy Kenny stated yesterday that Fine Gael had come forward with a great plan for health known as the universal insurance plan. He described it as revolutionary. It will include a half a million more people in health insurance with additional benefits, including primary care for the entire population. It will not cost those individuals a penny and it will not cost the taxpayers a penny either. It certainly is revolutionary, but it is the revolution of the comic. It is not doable, not because it defies administration but because it defies logic and arithmetic.

If we are to have serious debates in this House - the Government's mandate comes from this House through the people - for as long as the Government has the confidence of this House to whom we are accountable I believe we should govern. Deputy Lee spoke about this being the 30th Dáil. If we were to go for an election at every whim when we have had a mandate given for people for town councils, county councils and the European Parliament, not for this House, then we would be in the 130th Dáil instead of the 30th Dáil.

Our job and duty is to see this country through the difficult challenges and anyone who aspires to Government and to the office of Taoiseach has an obligation to show leadership, not least when he or she puts forward policies. The Government is putting forward a cancer control plan. The Leader of the Opposition marched with opponents in County Mayo against that plan even though he stated in here he agreed with it, but he did not agree with it because it affected Mayo. I challenge Deputy Kenny to find a single breast cancer patient or a single doctor in the past year in Mayo who is not totally confident of the transformation that has taken place. Therefore, I invite people who aspire to the office of Government to back us when we are making difficult decisions, not because they are tough or because they are unpopular, but because we are compelled to do what is right, in my case by patient safety.

I remain hugely confident and optimistic for the future of this country. That is not to say that I am blindly willful to the challenges we face, but I know if we are resolute, if we are determined and if we do not lose our nerve, we will see our way through this crisis as we have done in the past. The challenge for all of us is to step up to the plate and to support the policies that can transform the economic difficulties we face and bring this country around again.

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