Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To speak in favour of this motion, expressing confidence in the Taoiseach and the Government, offers an opportunity to answer one of the easiest and one of the most damaging accusations that can be put to a politician, which is "You’re all the same." By its actions in recent weeks, Sinn Féin has established how untrue that accusation is. We are not all the same. We are not even similar – not in background, not in motivation and not in ideology. Above all, we are not the same when it comes to our responsibilities as public representatives.

I got into politics because, having been a social worker and an activist on women's issues, I desperately wanted to improve the life prospects of children and families under pressure and to create a society that was just and where people had real opportunity. I do my job every day for that reason, as do my colleagues in government. It is because I believe that my responsibilities to children and families under pressure are so important, I would not engage in the cheap shot headline-grabbing and play-acting that characterises Sinn Féin and others. Play-acting is easy. Doing the right thing by the Irish people is not easy. It is not easy in the middle of the worst financial crisis ever faced by this country.

The people of Ireland have suffered greatly, of which there can be no doubt. When I stand on the doorsteps of my constituency and listen to individuals and families and listen to the stories of good people coping with one financial pressure after another, I am left in no doubt of their struggles. We are in touch. The one-sided narrative presented by Sinn Féin and others is that, in some way, the Government decided to impose tough decisions on its own people for the sake of it. That is not so.

Instead, this Government, led by the Taoiseach, Deputy Kenny, took tough decisions in order to save Ireland from the consequences of economic collapse. The Taoiseach and the Government held back the threat of disorder and chaos – economic and social chaos as witnessed elsewhere.

Political parties and individuals who trade in Toytown economics shrug that off. I cannot do that. I am in politics because of what I want to do, which is to protectfamilies and children. I am committed to policies that keep disorder at bay and that ensure our services are kept working so that in better times they can be further developed for our people. Funding services and dealing with social issues require a functioning economy.

I notice Deputy Adams said very little about the economy and how well it is functioning. I would say that of other more recent contributors to the debate also. All of that was under threat and this Government fought that threat and won. It made Ireland a case study in economic recovery because the people of Ireland chose to believe in the diligence, the decency and the honour of the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny. They knew he was not a sound-bite and headline man because they knew we were not in a time when sound-bites and headlines mattered. This was down to the wire, as has been clearly illustrated in the speeches today. This was a time to look past show business politics. It was a time for people to trust and to hope for better times ahead. The people did that and we did what they empowered us to do under the firm leadership of a man not intimidated by the terror of the collapse – the Taoiseach.

We retrieved our financial sovereignty; we pulled our finances back from manifest disaster; and contrary to the narrative out there, we have been one of the most reforming Governments in the history of the State. However, we went further and we delivered on our promise to create the conditions that would create jobs.

For 28 months in a row the unemployment rate has fallen. The Government target of creating 100,000 jobs by 2016 will not only be met, but exceeded, based on current growth levels and job creation. This is not happening by accident. It is the result of a determined effort by, and the policies of, this Government. We have rebuilt Ireland’s international standing. We have implemented our Action Plan for Jobs. We have pursued sector-specific initiatives such as the 9% VAT rate. In three separate deals, the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, working with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, secured a reduction in the high interest rates on EU loan repayments, cancelled the Anglo Irish Bank promissory notes and secured agreement to pay back International Monetary Fund, IMF, loans early.

Fixing Ireland’s finances was immeasurably difficult but we have done that. Let us not forget why. At the beginning, when we took over, the job situation was so bad that people queued for the prospect of even a temporary, basic-pay position. It was so bad, couples in their 20s and 30s, looking at their children and their teenagers, had to assume the worst, that they would be forced to emigrate, as their peers had to emigrate in order to find work. That was the position at the beginning but from the start, we promised we would find ways to create jobs, and create them we did. The reality, now, and let us neither miss nor forget it, is that, thanks to the strong, realistic hand of this Government, the children who were four and five when disaster struck, the teenagers who were 13 and 14 have a radically improved chance of getting a job, developing a career and building a life for themselves in Ireland. That is never recognised by the Opposition or commented on.

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