Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The motion is premised on the notion that there is an altogether different way of addressing the crisis we are in and that a grand plan is available, a better plan with an alternative strategy, which, if the Government would only yield to it, would solve all our problems. That is a manifest falsehood. No other combination of parties or Deputies in this House has advanced such a plan. No other combination of parties or Deputies in the House could form a credible government or a government that could even begin to address the problems faced by the people in anything like a fair and balanced way, as we are doing. One need only look around. What other combination of Deputies could achieve a majority in this House? Certainly, no government involving the Fianna Fáil party could command even the minimum level of support or respect from the people, given what it is responsible for. As for those in the Sinn Féin party that tabled the motion, they are perpetrating a fraud on the people. To demonstrate this one need only take a cursory glance at their submission. I am referring directly to their submission; it is not an idle attack from anywhere. They have chalked down €800 million in revenue from a wealth tax, a tax that excludes working farms expressly and not by implication. Can they define working farms?

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