Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to this motion. I thank most of the Technical Group for tabling the motion. I note some signatures are absent from the endorsement of the motion. Did the group consult with the lads? Did it not get around to it? Did they fundamentally disagree with the proposition? I expect it was the latter and therein lies a telling story of a populist, incoherent and fractured group of self-styled socialists that can barely agree on something as catch-all as a motion in opposition. It is long in anger and problems, comprehensive with a sprinkle of fiction and well-written, but terribly short on answers, solutions or facts.

This motion essentially calls for the reversal of the hard and unpopular decisions that have rescued the country thanks to the sacrifices of the people. Decisions have been taken by a Government which has suffered because of them, but the country is recovering as a result. I have read the motion and considered the premise upon which it is based, namely, a survey of income and living conditions that the CSO published based on figures from 2013. As Deputy Barry said, 2013 was a little different from 2015, but at the same time we take the figures as they stand.

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