Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Labour Party supports the three motions proposed by Fine Gael to move the writs for the vacancies in the constituencies of Dublin South, Donegal South West and Waterford. It is now more than seven months since George Lee resigned as a Member of this House. Following the death of Séamus Brennan in July 2008, the seat was left unfilled for 11 months. As a result the people of Dublin South have been under-represented for a combined period of 18 months in the past two years. It is almost 16 months since Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher was elected to the European Parliament, creating a vacancy for the constituency of Donegal South West. It is almost seven months since Deputy Martin Cullen resigned, leaving the people of Waterford under-represented.

There have been occasions in the past when vacancies have been left unfilled for a considerable period but never before in the history of the State has there been a deliberate policy that each vacancy in the Dáil should be left unfilled for such a prolonged period. There have been seven separate days since the beginning of 2009 when writs have been moved to fill the vacancies in this House. On six separate occasions, Fianna Fáil and the Greens, with the support of some independent Members, have combined to defeat these motions.

It is not acceptable for vacancies in the membership of this House to be left unfilled for so long. It is fundamentally undemocratic that the people of Donegal South West, Dublin South and Waterford are being denied the level of representation to which they are entitled under law and under the Constitution. The message conveyed by the refusal of the Government to allow these by-elections to proceed is that membership of the Dáil is somehow not important, that politics is not important and that the democratic system is not important. Neither is it good enough for the Government to suggest, as Green Party Ministers have been doing, that the by-elections could be held in March 2011. That would mean the Donegal South West vacancy would be unfilled for almost two years. How could that be justified?

It is not acceptable for the Government to plead that a decision should not be made on these motions because there is a legal action before the High Court seeking to compel the Government to move the writ for the Donegal South West by-election. While every citizen has the right to seek redress in the courts, it is more appropriate and desireable that decisions on these matters should be made in the Dáil. Even if there is a High Court determination in October, it is possible the outcome will be appealed to the Supreme Court, pushing the decision out into the distant future.

It is not acceptable that by-elections can be deferred indefinitely simply because the outcome is politically difficult for the Government or because it is afraid of losing them. In countries with a similar system of parliamentary democracy, by-elections are held within a matter of weeks of the vacancy occurring. There was a similar practice in the early days of this State. I have pointed out previously that when Kevin O'Higgins was assassinated on 10 July 1927, the subsequent by-election was held on 24 August.

Until the election of this Fianna Fáil-Green Government, the practice generally has been that by-elections were held within a few months of the vacancy occurring. There were two vacancies during the last Dáil and the by-elections were held within three months. There were six vacancies in the lifetime of the 28th Dáil, from 1997 to 2002. On no occasion was the seat left vacant for as long as a year.

Given the unprecedented attitude of this Government there is now a strong case for introducing legislation to require a by-election to be held within a specified period, other than in the case of some emergency situation where deferral should require a vote of perhaps two-thirds of the Dáil. Whatever excuses the Minister will come up with in replying to this debate, we know the real reason why the Government will do anything to further delay the by-elections. It is that the Government parties know they are facing defeats in all three constituencies. Is it any wonder that is so? Fianna Fáil's toxic combination of recklessness and incompetence has driven the country into the worst recession in our history and probably the worst recession of any developed country.

Under Fianna Fáil this country was first into recession and if Fianna Fáil is allowed to cling to office we will be the last country out of recession. Tomorrow the people will learn, we are told, of the likely full cost of the Government's bailout of Anglo Irish Bank. The best we can hope is that it will not exceed €30 billion. That is more than €6,700 for every man, woman and child in the country. The financial millstone which has been placed around the necks of successive generations of Irish taxpayers is a direct result of the disastrous blanket guarantee introduced by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party in September 2008.

Exactly two years ago the Labour Party stood in this House in opposition to that blanket guarantee. The Labour Party stance has been vindicated by everything that has happened in the past two years. Every forecast the Government made at that time has proved to be wrong. Far from being the cheapest bank bailout in the world, as the Minister for Finance, Deputy Lenihan, claimed it has become by far the most expensive.

One direct consequence of the open-ended and unlimited nature of the guarantee and the still unquantified cost to the taxpayer has been the cost of borrowing on the international money markets which has increased to a point where Ireland now ranks below Greece in terms of the rates that must be paid. For the past two years Fianna Fáil has been mesmerised by the consequences of the disastrous blanket bank guarantee and has allowed rates of unemployment and emigration to return to levels the people of this country hoped they would never see again.

This Government is crippled beyond repair. It is demoralised and politically dishevelled The longer it clings to power the more damage it will do. It should face the inevitable and go to the people.

See this speech in context