Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Everything else, including extra expenditure on public services, will flow from our short document. It is important to recognise that.

The most important issue in terms of whether this Government will be a successful one is the attitude of the Taoiseach and his Ministers. I hope it is conducive to working with the Oireachtas while not trying to bounce it into urgent decisions without proper consultation. We saw it in the talks with ourselves and the Independents. I caution the Taoiseach not to try to bounce people into things too quickly. Sometimes it is better to go a bit more slowly and carefully.

As regards the operation of this Government, all the Taoiseach needs to have is 58 votes. That is because we will abstain if the Government is behaving in accordance with the agreement we set out. We have said we will support the Taoiseach on key issues such as budget decisions and will not oppose him in votes of confidence. We will facilitate it in going ahead, but the onus will be on the Government to have those 58 votes. With Fianna Fáil abstaining, the Government will not have a majority in the House unless it has 58 votes. The numbers are very light, so it is important that the Taoiseach keeps to that.

I congratulate my county colleague Deputy Charles Flanagan on retaining his position in the Cabinet. That will be welcome in our area, and I wish him every success in his post. Most people extend goodwill to their constituency colleagues, and I am certainly in that category.

The biggest challenges now facing this Government are health and housing. Therefore, Deputy Coveney and Deputy Harris will hold two central portfolios. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, will have a difficult job, and we already know about the HSE budget overruns. It is probably due to the fact that most Departments have been freewheeling without active Ministers for a number of months. In the last three or four years there has never been an honest health Estimate presented in this House. It was always €600 million or €700 million short of what people knew was needed. It always required a supplementary Estimate. As part of the new budgetary process, I would like to see an honest health Estimate to meet the requirements, instead of a phoney Estimate being put through on budget day. That will be important so that we can have a realistic health service plan.

Housing will be the biggest test of this Government's ability to get things moving. There are a lot of empty houses and sites with planning permission. The Government will therefore have to examine serious measures to bring them back into the housing market. That is the most important thing to do in the couple of years immediately ahead.

I hope the Government side will be able to keep its numbers at 58 and above. We have given a commitment to support three budgets, which we will do on the basis that the Government meets the two-to-one expenditure-taxation split, which will help to improve and restore public services.

I expect a vote tonight. We did not vote for the Taoiseach, so I want it to go on the public record that Fianna Fáil is not part of this Government.

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