Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

Reading the motion, it is difficult to see what is Fianna Fáil's policy into the future given it is trying to ingratiate itself with the public it so badly let down in recent years. It seems to be a mixture of the use of fear to get people on-side and perhaps going back to the territory of comely maidens dancing at the crossroads. Younger generations, and not so young generations, laughed at the myopic vision of a former Fianna Fáil leader when he talked about comely maidens dancing at the crossroads as if things do not change. It is not so funny when we consider the utter destruction of this country's economy and public finances by previous leaders of the party opposite. This is why I find it strange to see Fianna Fáil trying to make itself out to be the guardian of rural life. Four of the signatories to this motion were themselves part of a Government that landed us in the greatest crisis this country has ever known. There is a certain sense of hypocrisy when Fianna Fáil members now try to paint themselves as the guardians of rural life.

There is also the issue of change, which they seem to fail to understand. It is only 18 years since I qualified as a doctor. The treatments of common diseases like diabetes and hypertension I was told to instigate when I first qualified are now obsolete and the current treatments are completely different and were unheard of even 18 months ago. The reason people fear change - the party opposite is trying to use that fear - is that all too often the driver for change is a state of chaos. The chaos of our public finances at present is contributing to a huge need for change. We are focusing on the education system, the health system and the Garda Síochána to try to reflect the changes that are vital to ensure local and national government can provide a quality service to the people in the future.

Some of the Deputies opposite referred to rural Garda stations. While those stations play a massive role in rural life, they are not sacrosanct in the way some think they are. Many of these rural Garda stations were opened when we were still under British rule. Are members of Fianna Fáil suggesting that nothing should change in this country and it should stay as it was on the day the State was founded? Gardaí nowadays do not use bicycles to do their jobs, they use modern transport and modern communications systems. Even 40 or 50 years ago, gardaí did not have access to the sort of telecommunications and radio communications that are used nowadays. Why should we be so stuck with the idea that we must have a block building in every single parish in the way Fianna Fáil suggests? We should be looking to modernise the Garda in a much more effective way. That is the sort of agenda we should be pushing forward.

The same applies to the health services. If we were to follow the sort of principles Fianna Fail is using, we would go back to the dispensing system, which did not serve the people well. We are now moving forward with developments such as primary care centres, moving services into the community and looking after people better. Again, change is coming and while some of it is driven by the financial situation, some of it would happen in any case. The party opposite, if it sees itself returning to power and correcting the mistakes it has made in recent years, should be ready to embrace some of these changes.

When there is destruction of the public finances such as we are now dealing with, the reality is there must be a reduction in the type of services we used to offer. There is no choice. I have no problem saying we must have a reduction in services because we simply do not have the money for them. There will be additional costs for people because although when we had a false economy of construction and borrowed money we were able to give the impression that we somehow did not have to pay for services, it is now coming home to roost that this money is no longer there. We must either cut services or increase taxes and other costs for the general public to try to maintain the current level of services.

This is the third time in my life the party opposite has brought this country to a similar position, and it was all brought about by extravagant spending. However, there was an additional element to the greed we saw in the last decade, namely, there was a corruption of the political life, business life and social life of the country. The party opposite needs to get away from all of that very destructive corruption that was brought into Irish society and it needs to be more reflective of itself.

The Irish people are very resilient and stoic. Unlike what I have heard from Members opposite, the people I meet are facing up to the current challenges. They are not just looking around for people to blame; they are prepared to make the changes and they want to get on with it. They want to see us run this country. The saddest thing about November 2010, when the IMF came into this country, was that the people were almost delighted to see that someone would be making decisions. That is what we saw happen in this country just over one year ago.

Fianna Fáil knows quite well that some of what it talks about here does not have the people out on the streets in the way that it would like, and neither does stoking up fears, talk of €300 inspection fees for septic tanks and the suggestion that rural crime will run rampant because a Garda station here or there is closed. Fianna Fáil knows that is pure rubbish. It is playing to a narrow audience that still supports Fianna Fáil, but the vast majority fully understands the changes that must be made. The vast majority of people know that some of the changes are merely changes we must face up to. We cannot remain static. They also accept that some of the changes we face are due to the fact that the public finances have been utterly decimated by the reckless behaviour of the previous Government in recent years.

We will make tough decisions this year, next year and the year after. If there is one promise that Fine Gael and Labour in Government will make it is that we will try to regain our sovereignty. We will do our best to get the people out of this mess. We will try to get this country working again and to provide the services the people deserve.

In future, the Opposition must change tack on this. We need for the Opposition to be a little more constructive in what it says. If opposition Members disagree with something, they should put their case a little better than in this Private Members' motion. This is a lazy Private Members' motion and it will not stir any interest outside of this House among those about whom we speak. I would have expected a little more considering that Fianna Fáil spent so much time in Government and fully understands how things work.

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