Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The difference between having an election and not having one is the mandate, the authority from the people by a ballot on the plan to rescue this country from the financial crisis the Taoiseach and his Government have led it into. As one of the Ministers told after the Farmleigh episode, "If you are on antibiotics for 13 years, you do become immune to a lot of things". That comment came from the Taoiseach's own ranks.

The country is unable to borrow money now. The Government cannot go back to the bond markets because the interest rates are too high and we are paying too much money to deal with this. The reason is that the international markets have no faith, credibility or belief in the strategy the Government is adopting. It is depicted by the first line of the Government's amendment to the Fine Gael Private Members' motion, which is down for discussion this evening. The motion refers to the lack of impetus in dealing with serious crime and activities at a high level in banking institutions here, for which nobody has been punished.

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