Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

Thank you, sir, but I will not need six minutes because much of what I had planned to say has already been said. It has also been said by nearly everyone I meet on the street and socially. They all seem to say the same thing. Until one is in Government one also seems to say the same thing - that we cannot afford this bailout. I would not support a referendum on this issue if the Government parties had done what they said they would do. Labour famously said it was either their way or Frankfurt's way, but they did not put up much of a battle there. As far as I can understand it, Fine Gael promised us limited burden sharing. It then copperfastened that by running Mr. Peter Mathews as a candidate, who agrees with nothing it plans as far as I can see.

The long and short of it is that we cannot afford to do what the Government plans. Those who claim that we cannot go down this road are told there is no alternative. There is an alternative, but it will also be difficult. It is similar to discovering that one has cancer, which leaves a person with two horrible choices. The first is to face up to the fact and go under the knife, as well as getting chemotherapy and radiotherapy. One might survive the treatment but there is no guarantee. That is what defaulting would be; there is no guarantee at the end of it but at least one would have some hope. The alternative is to ignore the cancer, saying "It'll be all right. At least you won't have to go to hospital for a year. You might survive for another year after that and at least you wouldn't have to put up with the pain of the knife". The pain of death would be much worse, which is what the Government has opted for. It says it cannot do the right thing because it will be too painful in the short run, but in the long term what the Government plans will cost us much more. It will cost us the ownership of our forests, rural schools and a decent health service. It will cost us so much that it will destroy this country. For that reason I support a referendum on this issue. I understand it would not be simple to hold a referendum; we would have to do a variety of things for that to happen, but where there is a will there is a way.

If the Government had done what it said it would do, I would not support a referendum. We have just had an election and the people had a chance to speak. The problem is that the people spoke on the basis that Labour and Fine Gael would do something different to what they now plan. Because of that, we need a referendum. If it is put before the people - with a choice between supporting the gamblers who took a risk and are now being sorted out by their friends in Europe, or having an extra special needs assistant, or being able to see a urologist for the first time in more than two years - I know what decision they would make. If the Government is that definite it has made the right choice, why not put it to the people to find whether they will support it on this? The Government has not put this to them before. It did not put it to them that it would become the new Fianna Fáil, which is what it has become. The Government should put the following question to the people, namely, do the people accept it is okay for Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party to become Fianna Fáil or do they not?

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