Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On this critical day in our country, I would like to state the following for the record: it was truly an honour to serve with the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, as a Minister in the previous Dáil. Today is a very special day for the Taoiseach, Fionnuala, the children and all his extended family. I congratulate him on his achievement. It is a historic day for him and I congratulate him on it. I believe history will be kind to the Taoiseach, who in the previous Government, along with Eamon Gilmore, Deputy Joan Burton and many others, guided this country through one of the most extreme crises Ireland has ever faced. Decisions were made that were difficult in the short term, but necessary to secure the long-term future of our country.

The fact is that Fine Gael and the Labour Party did secure that future. We achieved a huge amount, turned the country around and put it where it is now. However, I have to admit I fear that this Government, given its make-up and its construct, will not be able to continue this trajectory while also maintaining the principle of fairness as much as possible.

In all my dealings with An Taoiseach, his staff and other Fine Gael Cabinet colleagues, many of whom are in front of me here, business was always conducted with honour and there was, for much of that time, unity and a sense of purpose with regard to improving the State. I genuinely hope this carries on to the next Government and I extend my sincerest congratulations to all those who were appointed here today. For each and every one of them, and for their families, it is a great day. I particularly congratulate those who have been appointed for the first time. It is a fabulous day for them and I wish them the very best of luck. I also wish the best of luck to the three Ministers who are taking over components of my own former Department. It is important that, as I stand here, I offer them any help I can give in an achieving an orderly transition to the new Government.

When it comes to fairness, it is important to look through the programme for Government and what is referred to in it. The way in which the programme is constructed is very worrying in many areas. For instance, there is no commitment in the programme for Government to a living wage, which is something I and many of us in the House believe is absolutely necessary as we go towards a fairer society. Nor is there a commitment to continuing the work of the previous Government under the former Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, and the commitment to ending pay discrimination in the public service. We are no longer in a financial emergency, and this should be reflected, whether it is in the public service, workers' rights or in ensuring that people have greater futures. This document also appears to be very limited in its taxation measures, in its measures regarding wealth redistribution and in the whole area of ensuring that people will have adequate incomes into the future as the economy grows.

With regard to health care, free GP care is also very much absent, and in fact the document is silent on where that is going, which is very worrying. It is very clear throughout the document, and from promises that have already been made by the outgoing Government, that there are repeat commitments in a whole range of areas far too numerous to mention here. If some of the Independents think new commitments were given in particular areas, including rural development, jobs, regionalisation, town and village renewal schemes and housing, they are wrong.

Unfortunately - and I mean this - we now have a Government that is built on sand. Everyone knows that there has never been a Government in the history of the State that was created in such farcical circumstances over the last few months and the last few hours. What we saw this morning on the vote for Taoiseach was bizarre and embarrassing for this House. Frankly, it was cringe territory. It was simply incredible. I never saw so many of those who are now Government Deputies with reluctant faces on them looking at their phones and wondering what was going on in the last-gasp negotiations with Independents who were trying to stoke out one last cave-in by Fine Gael outside this Chamber. This is not new politics, unfortunately; it is old politics at its worst. While I wish it the best, we all know that this Government is not viable in the long term. We have a programme for Government whose figures simply cannot - and I mean this - ever actually add up.

What happens, for instance, if all the commitments in the programme for Government are actually honoured and then the numerous independent reports come back and recommend implementation, particularly of those measures on the Independents' wish list? Where is all the funding for these going to come from and what area of public spending that is necessary in the public interest will suffer? Whether they are railway lines, roads or other vanity projects, I believe many of these projects are simply impossible to deliver. I am afraid the Independents who are part of this Government will find that out to their cost pretty quickly.

Any Government that is formed has to be formed on the basis of trust. I believe there is no trust in this Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael arrangement with Independents. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael took 70 days to write a seven-page generic agreement. That is ten days per page.

See this speech in context