Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I do not wish to rain on the parade of anyone who has been elevated to the rank of Cabinet Minister or of those who assume new responsibilities as Ministers of State. However, this is an extraordinary time in our country. From what we have heard, the Taoiseach misses the point completely. Before he was appointed Taoiseach, he had an opportunity, in a month long preparation period, to look at the structure of Departments. He said he wanted to make a real impact on the difficult circumstances Ireland was facing. Today, he has made a mishmash of Departments half way through the life of a Government. For instance, FÁS is to be split among three separate Departments and it is difficult to understand who has responsibility for it.

Napoleon said it was more important to have lucky generals than to have good ones. The Taoiseach could have taken matters a step further and used his luck. He was presented with two Cabinet vacancies on a plate but he failed to deal with real issues which affect our country. The people queuing in Molesworth Street as we speak are not interested in the new appointments made to Cabinet or to the rank of Minister of State. They are interested in the delivery of the service they require, that is, a passport to leave the country. That is a constitutional right, as is the right to travel, which the Government has failed to deliver.

The fact that 434,000 people are without jobs is largely due to the failure of the Fianna Fáil-led Government to plan for the future. The Taoiseach's response to this crisis is to fail to remove a single Minister from his or her job, despite the fact that these people drove the economy onto the rocks in the past number of years. We have a dysfunctional health system where people are afraid to go to the hospitals which are supposed to look after them. The warning signs went unheeded. The Minister for Health and Children continues in her position at the top of this system, despite the rigidity of her approach when radical change is needed to shift emphasis, effect and impact in her Department. We have a line-up of Ministers who have failed in their Departments. Some have become a by-word for inaction and incompetence. The Taoiseach has made some changes. The Tánaiste has been shifted downwards to the new Department of Education and Skills and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs has been moved somewhere else. I am not sure yet.

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