Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I wish to share my time with Deputies Ciarán Lynch and Brian O'Shea. The Government now proposes to go ahead with the holding of the by-election in Donegal South-West for one reason only, that is, because it has been forced to do so. In the course of her speech and in moving the writ for the Donegal South-West by-election, the Tánaiste did not utter one sentence to explain why the by-elections are not being held in the other three constituencies.

Let us consider Dublin South. The seat there has been vacant for most of the past 18 months. I realise there was a by-election held and a Deputy was elected for a period but that seat has been vacant for most of the past 18 months and the constituency is under-represented. Waterford has been under-represented since March of this year. Admittedly, Donegal North-East has been vacant only for a couple of days. However, the normal practice has been that when one by-election is held, several are taken together. The only reason the other three by-elections are not being held is political. It is about keeping this clapped-out Government in office, a Government which, the Taoiseach maintains, derives its authority from having a majority in the House. It now derives that majority from a House with a depleted membership, the number of which is greater than the majority the Government claims to hold.

Apparently, the Government has made a decision to appeal the High Court decision yesterday on constitutional grounds and on what it claims is a separation of powers issue. It has done so without asking this wing of government and administration, the Oireachtas, for its view on whether that decision should be appealed or without giving the Oireachtas the opportunity of addressing the issue of unreasonable delay by way of legislation, as has been suggested here several times this morning.

Leaving aside any question of the Constitution or legislation, there is a political and democratic imperative that by-elections for seats in this House be filled within a reasonable period. This issue has been examined by an all-party committee of the House, which concluded that seats should be filled within a three month period.

The reality is that all of this is about Fianna Fáil trying to stay in office to the very last day. I agree with the remarks of Deputy Deasy. At this stage whatever the arguments about the holding of elections and the disruption of normal Government business and so on, the country, the economy and our national interest now require the holding not only of by-elections, but of a general election such that the people can give a mandate to a new Government - a strong, stable Government - which can deal with the country's economic crisis and which will have a mandate for four to five years.

Over the course of recent weeks, we have heard the Government's wish for a four-year budgetary plan. Certainly, we need an economic plan not only to deal with the budgetary issue, but to deal with the necessity to create jobs, to grow the economy and to bring about economic recovery. However, such a plan will only be credible to the international markets if there is a Government with a four or five year mandate capable of implementing it.

The by-election will be held in Donegal South-West. The Labour Party with our candidate, Councillor Frank McBrearty Jr., will contest that by-election vigorously. Glacfaidh an Lucht Oibre páirt sa bhfothoghchán i nDún na nGall Thiar-Theas. Beidh an Comhairleoir Frank McBrearty mar iarrathóir againn. Ní leor go mbeidh fothoghchán in aon dáilcheantar amháin. Ba cheart go mbeadh olltoghchán againn chun seans a thabhairt do chuile dhuine a n-aigní a dhéanamh suas ar an ndroch-Rialtas atá sa tír faoi láthair agus Rialtas nua, buan agus socair a chur ina áit chun déileáil leis an ngéarchéim eacnamaíochta.

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