Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have seen many outrageous motions over my years in politics. The motion tabled by Fianna Fáil tonight is possibly the most blatant example of public opportunism I have seen. It is quite something that the soldiers of destiny, just as they did in the 1970s, marched Ireland into financial crisis in 2008 with their reckless economic policies and thereby destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people on this island. Let me put on the record again that five months ago, Fianna Fáil produced a pre-budget proposal which called for cuts of €350 million in the public sector pay and pension bill between July and the end of the year. Let us put on the public record that Fianna Fáil twice cut the pay of public servants without consultation. Let us put on the record that these soldiers marched us into a bailout programme and ensured Ireland would not be in charge of its own destiny for years to come. Let us put on the record that they included a property tax in the bailout programme and ran on that basis in the general election before promptly deciding it no longer supported such a tax. We remember that when they arranged for the sale of State assets in the bailout, they planned it so that Colm McCarthy's report would not be considered until they had been thrown out of office. We remember that they included in the bailout agreement the need to find €1 billion in savings from the public sector pay and pensions bill that were not specified in the original Croke Park deal.

Let us remember how they ensured before they left office that all their Ministers had enormous pensions and lump sum payments. Let us remember how they signed off on the super salary of the chief executive of Bank of Ireland, as we saw at today's meeting in the Burlington Hotel. Let us remember how they said that no item in the bailout could be changed. Let us remember how Deputy Micheál Martin constantly repeated the mantra that nothing could be changed. This Government renegotiated the interest rates. It introduced the jobs stimulus in 2011 and the stimulus package in 2012. It scrapped the promissory notes in 2013. Let us remember how Fianna Fáil gave the banks - Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide - a blank cheque worth over €30 billion, for which we are still paying. Let us also remember that the current leader of Fianna Fáil was a member of the Cabinet that made these decisions. Those involved in Fianna Fáil have always been consistent in one regard - whichever way the wind is blowing, they will chase it. No position is too entrenched to change. All that matters is the pursuit of votes, of power and of attention. The Government has to clean up the mess that Fianna Fáil left behind. We have to deal with the disastrous deal they left us with. We have to reform our institutions and repair the damage that has been done.

I am proud to be a member of the Labour Party in government, which is fighting for fairness and trying to ensure the hundreds of thousands of people who were left unemployed by Fianna Fáil are given a chance to work or retrain. We are fighting to ensure union members are consulted about their pay and conditions, rather than being subjected to unilateral pay cuts and diktats as they were by the previous Administration. We are fighting to protect those on the minimum wage and in low-paid employment. As I do not want to take up much more time, I will conclude by saying that Fianna Fáil implemented many fair and unfair things. The one thing that has always stuck in my throat is how Fianna Fáil attacked the minimum wage. That is what they left behind them. I was prepared to give them a fair chance and accept they might have changed, but I have to say this motion shows they have not changed their stripes. The only thing they are interested in is Fianna Fáil. Rather than focusing on Ireland, they are interested in their own political careers and where they are going. This Government is determined to get this country back on its feet and its people back into work. I am sorry to say all Fianna Fáil is doing is chasing the fantasy economics of Sinn Féin.

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