Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

On a personal level, I wish the Ministers who have resigned from office the best for their future. Today is not a day to dwell on their political legacy or their contribution to Government.

I welcome that at long last a date has been set for the general election. Since the Green Party announced that it was withdrawing from Government in November, I have been making the point, and made it very clear prior to Christmas, that the Labour Party would not tolerate a situation where Fianna Fáil attempted to cling on to the reins of office month in and out. Finality and certainty had to be brought to the situation and this has now happened. I would have preferred if the election were at an earlier date, but it is 11 March, and we must now concentrate on the future and on restoring some hope and confidence to the people.

I regret that the Taoiseach has handled matters the way he has. The announcement he has just made is one that could and should have been made this morning, which would have avoided the chaos we experienced here earlier and the damage that has been done to the country due to the sense of disintegration that prevailed throughout the morning. I wonder why it happened this way. We knew that some of the Ministers who have retired had announced already that they were not contesting the elections although there may have been some surprise with regard to the intentions of others.

I wonder why, in circumstances where we will now have an election on 11 March, it was necessary for them to resign their ministerial office today and why it was necessary for them all to do so on the one day. The answer is clear. The Taoiseach attempted a stroke and it backfired. The Taoiseach attempted an arrangement which would have involved the appointment of new Ministers, in an attempt to prolong the life of his Government, but the whistle was blown on that. As a result, he has now ended up today as a Taoiseach without authority who no longer, it would appear, has the authority as Head of Government to do the most essential thing a head of government does in a democracy, which is to appoint the members of his Government. That is the consequence of the way in which he has handled the situation today.

From here on, we must concentrate on moving the country forward. The country and its people have come through hell and fire over the past couple of years. What was a good economy has been turned around. We have ended up in hock and with disastrous decisions being made by the Government as a result of the decisions made on banking. Many people have lost their jobs - 300,000 in the course of this recession - young people face emigration, people fortunate to be in work have seen their pay packets diminished through taxes and levies and people who need essential services must wait for them.

We need to restore hope and confidence in this country. The country has a great future and its best days are ahead. A young man I met in a shop this morning said to me, "Mr. Gilmore, I have never been interested in politics, but I cannot wait to vote". People cannot wait to bring about the political change that will release this country's energies, restore hope and confidence and continue the urgent job of recovery, thus getting back people back to work and fixing a system that has been manifestly broken.

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