Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I have no confidence in the Taoiseach. The Minister of State, Deputy Roche, referred to "Alice in Wonderland" and he must have been watching the movie because his reaction to the two reports under discussion was a far cry from my understanding of them.

Last week the Honohan report and the Watson and Regling report set out the Taoiseach's legacy. These reports reveal beyond doubt that, as Minister for Finance, he followed a course that led to our current disaster. Fault for our economic collapse lies not with the international markets but with Fianna Fáil's mismanagement of the economy, inept regulators and bankers who lost the run of themselves.

The new Governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, carried out an inquiry into the regulatory regime, Government policy and the actions of bank management. He blamed macro-economic and budgetary policies for contributing to economic overheating and stated the Government relied to an unsustainable extent on the construction sector and other transient sources for revenue. He further stated: "The Government's pro-cyclical fiscal policy stance, budgetary measures aimed at boosting the construction sector, and a relaxed approach to the growing reliance on construction-related and other insecure sources of tax revenue were significant factors contributing to the unsustainable structure of spending in the Irish economy".

We all know the history. Tax revenue was buoyant and the response was to forget about prudent economics when spending the money. Any prudent housekeeper knows that excess funds should be invested in improvements to the house rather than blown at a party.

Mr. Honohan debunked the myth that the weakness of Irish banks was caused by external factors. He stated: "Even before the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, Irish residential property prices had been falling for more than 18 months and few observers expected their fall to end soon". He argued that banking practice and Government policy both played a central role in creating the crisis. As Minister for Finance during this period, the Taoiseach closed his eyes to the realities facing the country.

The report by Klaus Regling and Max Watson also found that budgetary policy veered towards spending while revenues were buoyant. In addition, the pattern of tax cuts left revenues increasingly fragile because they were dependent on taxes on the property sector.

The public never had the chance to vote for Deputy Cowen as Taoiseach but they will have to live with his legacy in terms of inadequate health services and lack of investment in infrastructure. The Chief Whip, Deputy Curran, stated on radio this morning that he expects the Government to win the vote on the motion but the real vote will be when the people have an opportunity to decide on the Taoiseach's legacy. I know how they will vote.

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