Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Minutes after the publication of the Fennelly report, we were treated to a master class in spin by the Government and, again, by Government party Deputies today. The report has been presented as a whitewashing of the Taoiseach while, in reality, the details of the report are anything but that. It is a very good reason not to have confidence in our Taoiseach, Government and, incidentally, the Attorney General. There are many other very good reasons not to have confidence in the Taoiseach and the Government. Like Deputy Pringle, I was struck, as were many, by the image of the Tánaiste, Deputy Burton, happily cutting the ribbon on a food bank as a symbol of the recovery that is supposedly under way. It symbolised precisely what is happening, what was exposed so well in last night's documentary in RTE, namely, the nature of the recovery.

The Government is presiding over a recovery for the rich, the corporations and the high earners at the expense of the rest, and over a situation in which almost one in three people and almost one in two children is suffering from multiple deprivation experiences. Those statistics have doubled since the start of the crisis and have significantly increased since the Government took office, while the wealth of the super-wealthy has gone from €50 billion to €84 billion and Denis O'Brien's personal wealth has more than doubled. It sums up the reality of the Government's actions and the slogan and rhetoric of recovery on which it will stand for election and seek re-election and a vote of confidence from the public. That is who the Government stands for and represents and it will not get the votes of confidence of the public when it comes to an election in the coming months.

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