Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In reality this motion is a statement of fact. Dáil Eireann has no confidence in the Minister for Health. Procedurally, it will be a relatively tight vote in any event. All the evidence suggests that the vast majority of those abstaining do not have confidence either. The Fianna Fáil Deputies will cry "Brexit prevents us from doing anything," even though practically every statement they make implies that the Minister should go. Deputy Donnelly lists the myriad failings practically daily. Brexit does not and cannot mean that this Government and Ministers get a free pass and a blank cheque in the meantime. That is what Fianna Fáil and Deputy Micheál Martin are facilitating here. By rights the Taoiseach should recognise the failings himself.

It is the role of the Opposition, and it appears all the Opposition parties agree, to hold Government to account as Fine Gael used to do when it was in opposition. It tabled or supported a motion of no confidence in the Fianna Fáil Government at a minimum once a year between 2004 and 2011, and rightly so. Some of those Ministers were as bad as the current Ministers.

This motion is not about an election. It is about a crisis in health that gets more and more out of control each day with record waiting lists, the Government exacerbating and drawing out a dispute with nurses and, most specifically, a €450 million overrun in the national children's hospital. Despite what the Taoiseach said, this overrun will have real implications for major projects in health and elsewhere.

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