Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

During the course of the recent election, when I was asked by constituents as to how I and my party might in the short term, rectify, alter, change or amend existing policies with a view to improving the lot of our people or allaying their fears and their worries and anxieties, my answer was always that neither or my party nor any other candidate could profess to offer any simple panacea, any quick-fix solution, any magic wand formula to turn our fortunes around in the short term. The four year plan was the foundation upon which our future was and is based. Any deviation from that plan, I said, was to deviate from the truth and from reality. We could not and must not prey on the minds of the weak in offering something not yet within our reach.

The subsequent election gave a very definitive result, a resounding vote for change. It resulted in a new Government with a substantial majority. Just as the new Government has a mandate, it also has responsibilities, based on the trust it sought and got from the electorate. While the electorate sent a clear message the Government must take stock of that message and the goodwill it carries. It must now inform the public of the detail of its intentions. It must strive to tell the public how it, in government, intends specifically to address the issues. It must tell the public how different it will be in government compared with when its parties were not. It must tell the public that having voted against the four year plan, it is now to support it. It must tell the public that having opposed the Finance Bill, it is now to support it. It must tell the public that having promised not to put one more cent into the banks, it will now put billions into them. It has now left the world of five-point plans and of www.finegael.com, the world of populist sound bites, the pre-election world. It is now at the coalface and I welcome it to the real world.

When we look over some of the proposed areas in the programme for Government, it is easy to see how confused and disorientated both parties are in this real world. Prior to the general election when we asked how vast policy differences might be resolved, the public were told not to worry about it, they would resolve them and compromise. The public were not given an eye-opener and were not allowed to adjudicate. The compromise agreed translates into climbdowns, U-turns and flip-flops. The Government has been put together under false pretences. In the area of trading and investment in the smart economy, when Fianna Fáil produced its document in September 2010, the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose, said it was high on targets and short on specifics, and that it was more about an attempt to rehabilitate the reputation of a then discredited Government than getting people back to work. In the area of the sale of assets, the programme for Government states that €2 billion will be raised. What and where are the specifics in this regard? I ask the Ministers, Deputies Rabbitte, Quinn, Burton and Gilmore, what is for sale and when will it be for sale.

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