Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

The amendment before the House commends the Government for its reactions to what it describes as restoring public finances. To my mind, restoring the public finances means recovery, but not through a return to business as usual. The latter would mean bailing out bankers, dealing with developers and putting the type of economy in place which initially got us into this mess. It must be borne in mind that the financial crisis is also a political crisis, and one cannot be separated from the other. The financial crisis is a direct result of political mismanagement over the past 15 years.

The amendment before us sets out to congratulate the Government on its recent actions. However, no reference is made to its decisions that led us into this financial crisis, and no explanation is given as to how the crisis began. Furthermore, there is no mention of the Government's campaign of public vilification that has been orchestrated against public sector workers in recent months. We saw a typical dehumanisation process being carried out before the knife was stuck in. This is a well documented process in any socio-psychological situation whereby before one can perpetrate the act, one must first vilify the person who is targeted. That scenario was set out in the public mind by the Government's campaign.

We should put in place a clear and fair alternative in which the shared sacrifice that is now required will be undertaken by all of us to get out of this mess, which was created by a few for the benefit of a few. That should result in shared prosperity for all, rather than a process of bailing out bankers and developers. The Minister is proposing in future to continue to look after those who are close to Fianna Fáil Governments, as they have been in the past.

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