Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

Will the Government admit the existence of a political, social and economic morass, at the bottom of which lies the Fianna Fáil Party? The culture created and nurtured over the past ten years has done much damage to this country's reputation abroad and has created a cynicism about politics and the political class. It will take years for any restoration of the notion of public service or for the notion that democracy is fundamentally good and should be cherished.

We are now in a situation where the rating agency, Standard & Poor's, has changed our designation from AA+ to AA. One may have certain views on the nature of rating agencies and their methodologies, but that rating sends a signal to the rest of the world that Ireland is not a place in which to do business or in which to invest, but a country where the political and economic circumstances are such that inherent or structural economic flaws mean it is not conducive to investment. The reason for this is that the political and economic situation is currently so negative that nobody wants to touch the country with a barge pole. Until there is a change of the guard and the political regime, we cannot hope to restore some semblance of confidence, internationally, economically and politically. That is the reason the Labour Party supports a vote of no confidence in the Government.

Will the Government admit that over the past decade the economy was built on a false edifice that has now come tumbling down like a ton of bricks? The architects of this false edifice were the Fianna Fáil Party. Ireland needs to recover economically and to recover faith in the political system. The people cast their votes in the local and European elections to send a message to Fianna Fáil that its regime and days are numbered. The people have registered their disgust with the Government not only because they feel that the Fianna Fáil model of governance has failed us, but because they now want a change of the guard. They want to see a restoration of a model of governance that is based on the fundamental principle of service to all of the people, not just the few.

It will take a new political reality to restore the notion of public service. The past ten years have seen the unhinging of economics from society. My colleague, Deputy Michael D. Higgins, summed it up when he said the public had been reduced to the level of spectator as the economy is analysed as something separate from society. It will take a new, centre of left government to have a new discourse and make things different. That is the reason we support a vote of no confidence in the Government. We seek change and to inject a new positivism into the political sphere. The Government will, probably, defeat us with its motion, but it is vital that we in opposition lay down a marker on behalf of the people who voted in recent days to get the Government out. It is right that those people have their voices echoed by us on this motion.

The Labour Party leader, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, stated yesterday that the Fianna Fáil Government allowed our economy to become so reliant on the construction sector that in 2006 one in every four men in the labour force was working in it. Now, almost one in eight people in our labour force is on the dole, a massive rise in unemployment which has rippled out of the collapsing construction sector. The Fianna Fáil Government at best turned a blind eye, while the banks and big developers grew the property bubble to bursting point. The people have paid for this type of cynical politics. They will no longer continue down this path. They are sick of the current regime. It is an ailing and failed regime and we must restore a proper one.

By their actions this past weekend, the people have sent a message that the Fianna Fáil way is no longer the way to run a country. That way is no longer tenable and we can no longer afford it. Fianna Fáil has moved to a situation where it has almost bankrupted the country. It can no longer be trusted on the economy. It has not got a clue. With some €64 billion in deposits in Anglo Irish Bank, the Irish taxpayer, not the Government, is now the lender of last resort. That is the regime created by Fianna Fáil, but it has no shame about it. It comes out day in and out and defends its position. Those in the Fianna Fáil Party will no longer take responsibility for their actions. They will not confess to the fact that they could not run the economy properly and have run it into the ground. That has always been the Fianna Fáil way. They are interested in power for the sake of power and not in public service or the people. We want a changing of the guard so that we can inject positivity into politics once more, restore some degree of what it means to be a public servant and walk through these halls with pride, knowing the people outside know we are doing something good and performing a public service. They should be ashamed of themselves.

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