Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I am speaking of the people of my generation. While there is no blame apportioning to that generation of Fianna Fáil politicians, there is a sense that they do not appreciate the anger and sheer sense of betrayal among the public. Some of the people of my generation on the Government benches are as vigilant as their elders in defending the party line and the sins of those who have gone before them, politically. If this country is going to mean anything, I believe our generation of politicians will have to come clean with the people and begin a new political paradigm that ensures it will not be about serving Fianna Fáil or the party first, but rather the people, so that they are sovereign. It is the people on whom we will rely to guide us in terms of how the country should be governed.

It is deplorable that a deal of this magnitude could be brought in by a Fianna Fáil Government, which through pure chicanery knows it will not have to implement half of it and that a large part of the deal will be very difficult to unhinge for any incoming Administration. That is the trick of the Fianna Fáil party and that is what it has done for generations. There will be Fianna Fáil speakers of my generation tonight who will defend the position and the deal with great gusto, knowing full well that they will be on this side of the House in six months time when we will have to defend and do our best to renegotiate a deal into which the Government has manoeuvred us. It is chicanery of the highest order. That we cannot vote on this deal makes a mockery of the very sovereignty of this country, and of this House.

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