Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Ministers, Deputies Ruairí Quinn and Frances Fitzgerald, Ministers of State, Deputies Paul Kehoe, Brian Hayes and Fergus O'Dowd, and Deputies Olivia Mitchell, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, Michael McNamara, Dara Murphy, Tony McLoughlin, Heather Humphreys, Simon Harris and David Stanton.

This is a pointless debate. A venial sin has been turned into a hanging offence. The mock outrage of Fianna Fáil Members makes them look ridiculous. I thought Fianna Fáil had embarked on a new departure. I thought when the previous Cabinet had either run away or been sacked by the electorate that the new young men would be different, policy-driven, prepared to play the ball not the man. No more Punch and Judy shows, we were told. I thought before long we would be like Miranda in "The Tempest", that we would all be exclaiming, "O brave new world, That has such people in't!". Unfortunately there is no brave new world in Fianna Fáil. The bright young men have reverted to type: bushwhackers and character assassins.

Of all the topics Fianna Fáil Members could have selected for Private Members' time, why did they select a confidence vote on a very competent Minister whose record of reform is unsurpassed? It is because they cannot credibly discuss the main policy issues of the day. Fianna Fáil Members cannot talk about the economy because they wrecked it and they hope if they do not mention it at all the electorate may have a bout of amnesia. They cannot talk about the banks because Fianna Fáil's disastrous policies regarding Anglo Irish Bank and the bank guarantee have cost the taxpayers a king's ransom measured in billions of euro.

They cannot criticise the local property tax because it was they who agreed it with the troika, and as recently as the 2012 budget they proposed a flat rate property tax. Anyway, the Revenue is doing a brilliant job of collecting the tax. They cannot credibly talk about the Haddington Road agreement because, unlike their own public service pay and pension cutting exercise when unilateral action without consultation was taken, the Haddington Road agreement has been negotiated with all the stakeholders involved. They cannot credibly discuss the protection of maternal life Bill because Fianna Fáil is hopelessly divided on the issue and does not have a party position.

If the major policy issues of the day cannot be discussed with credibility in Private Members' time, then personality politics might look like a good option. One can only be astounded at the cynicism of the party which, having wrecked the economy, destroyed the banks, put hundreds of thousands of people out of work, savaged the living standards of so many, made the poor poorer, knocked 50% off the value of family homes, drove our young people out of the country and surrendered the sovereignty of this Republic, still has the neck to launch a personal attack on the Minister for Justice and Equality. They should be ashamed of themselves.

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