Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not possible to accept that Sinn Féin tabled its motion of no confidence out of any sincere outrage about how information was handled. Every one of that party's senior members aggressively attacked me and others for raising now proven allegations about abuse within the provisional movement. Remember Máiría Cahill and the treatment meted out to her, and Paudie McGahon. I was relentlessly attacked by Sinn Féin for daring to raise those issues, outside and inside this House. We are still waiting for the first person to respond to its call for witnesses to come forward to the gardaí. Not one person has come forward.

While the issue of confidence in the Government has been put on the agenda for purely partisan reasons, it has to be addressed. Our position remains that every Deputy elected to the Dáil has a duty to do everything possible to make the Dáil work. We reject the idea that the only roles we can play are to support Government in everything or oppose it in everything. Unlike any other party, Fianna Fáil tried to remove Fine Gael from Government. We did not just oppose Deputy Kenny and Fine Gael, we repeatedly offered an alternative to them. We will not take lectures about removing Fine Gael from office from Deputies who sat on their hands when this could have been achieved. I point out to Deputy Howlin and his colleagues, with their new-found revolutionary zeal, that on 10 March last year each of them voted to support Deputy Kenny's nomination as Taoiseach. Deputy Rock might also consider the fact that the record of the House has not been erased. It still contains his multiple crawling speeches on the visionary leadership qualities of the man from whom he is now sprinting away. It is great to hear that Fine Gael Ministers have rediscovered their voices, having been running from journalists for the past three days.

The confidence and supply arrangement we reached is absolutely transparent about the basis for enabling the Government to be formed and to continue. In return for a range of guarantees, mainly focused on ending some of the worst policies of the last Government, it has been given the opportunity to get on with its job. In defiance of all the commentaries, we have played this agreement absolutely straight. We have been a constructive Opposition in proposing alternatives and, on some occasions, allowing through policies with which we disagreed. We can point to concrete advances on pensions, a more progressive budget strategy, the suspension of water charges and investment in key educational supports, each of which was achieved in the face of the right-wing agenda of key Fine Gael representatives.

While we have refused to play games, there have been clear breaches of the agreement by the Government and regular provocations from its members. The last-minute appearance of hundreds of millions in budget spending, the blocking of Deputy O'Callaghan's judicial appointment Bill and the bulldozing through the House of the rent control Bills are examples of this behaviour. So, too, are the regular statements of Fine Gael Ministers, manoeuvring for the post-Kenny era and claiming that they will "put manners on those Fianna Fáilers". These comments are both childish and representative of an arrogant party which cannot accept its fall in public support.

The events of this past week have put the agreement under serious strain. We continue to believe that the Government's policies are leaving too many people behind, that it is drifting and failing to provide leadership, either from the top or in any major policy area. Most Ministers are focused on their personal future, and on pretending to be external commentators on public affairs, rather than attending to the people's business. We want a change of Government but we believe this Dáil has not yet fulfilled its obligations to the people, whom we are elected to serve.

My party's priorities are to address this scandal and help our country overcome the many challenges it faces. There is no evidence that an immediate election would do this. We will abide by our agreement. However, there is a point after which all good faith efforts to make this Dáil work will have failed and there will be no alternative but to have an election. That point is much closer today than it was last week. It may well be reached if there are further revelations that suggest that the Government has been acting in bad faith in this manner, or if it fails to honour both the spirit and the detail of its agreements.

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