Dáil debates

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the House that the Presidential Commission, acting on my advice, has accepted the resignation of Deputy Cullen as a member of the Government. I wish to place on the record of the House my gratitude to Martin Cullen for the contribution he has made to the work of the Government and to public service. It is a matter of widely-expressed regret that his medical condition is such that he felt unable to continue to serve and I wish to renew my best wishes to him at this difficult time for him and his family. I also confirm that heretofore I have acknowledged the contribution of the former Minister, Deputy Willie O'Dea, when bringing notice of his resignation to the House on that occasion.

I move: "That Dáil Éireann approves the nomination by the Taoiseach of Deputy Pat Carey and Deputy Tony Killeen for appointment by the President to be Members of the Government."

In addition, I wish to advise the House that I intend to make the following proposed reassignments. I propose to assign responsibility for the Department of Education and Science to the Tánaiste, Deputy Mary Coughlan, the Department of Social and Family Affairs to Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism to Deputy Mary Hanafin, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to Deputy Pat Carey and the Department of Defence to Deputy Tony Killeen. Subject to the motion that I have put to the House being approved, Deputies Pat Carey and Tony Killeen will cease to be Ministers of State on their appointment as members of the Government. I propose to nominate to the Government Deputies Cuffe, White and Connick to be Ministers of State.

Photo of Paul Connaughton  SnrPaul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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What does Deputy O'Dea think of that?

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I will propose to the Government the Departments to which they will be nominated and some other changes in the allocation of responsibilities to existing Ministers of State, including the appointment of Deputy Curran as Chief Whip.

First, I want to outline the context in which these changes are taking place. In the past two years, the world has changed radically and we as a country have been changing with it. For the bulk of this time, my Government's focus has been on stabilising the deterioration in the public finances and banking sector as well as protecting those who have fallen on hard times and continuing to protect and create as many jobs as possible. By taking some hard decisions and making tough choices, we are now in position to rebuild from a more solid base and focus on the future with confidence. Although I believe the worst is over, I also believe that as a country we have major challenges and decisions to make, but we are on the right track and I know that, if we remain committed and resolved, we can overcome the obstacles we are facing.

As our focus shifts to generating economic growth again, so must the Government adapt to the new challenges and sharpen its focus on new tasks. This requires changes in how Government works. In approaching the reconfiguration of Departments, the starting point has to be clarity about the objectives to be achieved. The changes I am making are intended to ensure that political leadership and administrative capacity are aligned with the core objectives of economic recovery, job creation and support for those who have lost their jobs. In particular, I am strengthening our approach to supporting innovation and overcoming barriers to structural change, responding better to the needs of unemployed people, supporting productivity and growth through skills development, maintaining progress in a coherent and strategic way towards important social policy goals and accelerating the pace of modernisation of the public service.

I do not believe in making structural changes for their own sake. Too often, changes in structures can be pursued to disguise a lack of clear priorities or the determination to implement them. This Government has a clear agenda that I am determined will be driven forward with energy and commitment. There is no time to be wasted on extensive restructuring at the expense of action to implement our policies. Restructuring of Departments and agencies inevitably entails disruption and costs, but I am satisfied that, with the changes I am making, the benefits will outweigh the costs because they will group functions the combination of which is more appropriate to current priorities than the present arrangements, ensure greater coherence, produce more efficient delivery and underline the priority issues for this Government in a way that mobilises a broad response.

A major focus of the changes I am making is the jobs agenda, namely, creating the conditions for sustainable job creation,-----

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Jobs for the boys.

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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-----ensuring our people have the skills and competences to fill jobs, especially those with a high value-added content, and supporting those who have lost their jobs as they prepare for future employment.

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Jobs for the Green Party.

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Within the framework of the Government's commitment to fiscal stability and the restoration of a functioning banking system, economic recovery will require a renewed focus on supporting enterprise and driving innovation. The agenda set out in the recent report of the task force on innovation highlights some of what needs to be done, building on the very significant presence of overseas companies and the potential for a much faster rate of growth of our many high-potential indigenous companies. I propose to sharpen this focus within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which will be renamed the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, by transferring to it funding for the programme for research in third level institutions. This will help to bring together a streamlined and focused programme of funding of research and development aligned with the objectives of enterprise policy.

Growing the enterprise sector to produce employment opportunities requires that our people are trained and skilled to take advantage of job opportunities. Responsibility for skills and training policy is being re-allocated to the Department of Education and Science, which will become the Department of Education and Skills. In addition to the work of the expert skills group, responsibility will transfer for the training activities of FÁS, which will therefore be aligned more closely with the further education and training activities of the VECs, the institutes of technology and programmes such as Youthreach.

Providing a more effective and streamlined response to the needs of the unemployed requires more joining up and ultimately integration of the income support provided through the social welfare system with the support for activation and preparation for re-entry to employment. Accordingly, responsibility for the employment services of FÁS is being transferred to the Department of Social and Family Affairs, which will become the Department of Social Protection. The community services programmes of FÁS will also be the responsibility of this Department and I also intend to transfer responsibility for the operation of the rural social scheme to that Department so as that services providing income and direct work opportunities for the unemployed are brought together. In due course, I envisage that responsibility for the payment of redundancy and insolvency payments will also be transferred to this Department.

It is important, while addressing the priority issues in responding to unemployment and driving economic recovery, that we do not lose sight of the importance of social development, the targeting of the most vulnerable and support for those working to make a difference right across our communities. I have therefore decided that the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs will become the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs and will incorporate responsibility for social inclusion policy and family policy from the Department of Social and Family Affairs and for equality, disability, integration and human rights from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The revised programme for Government sets out the priority objectives to be pursued over the period ahead. It contains a clear agenda for change and delivery across all Departments, including those that are not affected by the reconfiguration I am announcing today. All have their role to play. In this regard, I want to refer specifically to the important role to be played by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, not only in the vital area of tourism policy and performance, but in realising the full potential of our strong performance and reputation in the area of arts and culture and ensuring that the creative industries play their full part in the vital task of economic renewal. The tourism and hospitality industry employs more than 200,000 people and brings in over €6 billion in revenue every year. We want to grow this business significantly. In order to secure better synergy with related activities, I am transferring responsibility for the horse and greyhound racing industries to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Photo of Shane McEnteeShane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Does that include stag hunting?

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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With regard to public service reform, the Government has set out its vision and strategy for achieving the transformation of the public services. The pressure on resources, reflected in reduced public service numbers, puts a premium on ensuring that this agenda for change is fully implemented. The current discussions taking place with the public service unions are based on the fact that there is significant agreement between the Government and the unions about what can and should be done to modernise the public service and to liberate the talent of those who have so much to contribute, especially at this time of challenge.

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Does the Taoiseach believe that?

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am confident that these discussions will result in a new dynamic for progress and transformation. Against that background, I have decided to give a strengthened emphasis to the direction and leadership of change in the public service. I propose to appoint Deputy Calleary to be Minister of State at my own Department and at the Department of Finance, in addition to his responsibility for labour affairs, to strengthen the political leadership of the change process under the direction of the Cabinet committee on public service transformation, which I chair. To support this work on a public service-wide basis and to bring greater focus and energy to the task of public service transformation, the Government will appoint a public service board, including members from outside the public service with appropriate experience and skills.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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A quango.

Photo of Arthur MorganArthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Another one.

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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It is intended to strengthen the capacity to provide specialist support for the change process in key functional areas and to put in place new arrangements to accelerate the pace of change in consultation with the public service unions. Further details of these arrangements will be announced in due course.

In bringing in new members of Government, I am reinvigorating my ministerial team with experienced and capable colleagues.

A Deputy:

That is for sure.

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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They are alive with energy.

Photo of Séamus KirkSéamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Taoiseach without interruption.

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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By reconfiguring departmental responsibilities, I am taking the opportunity to bring fresh focus and renewed commitment to achieving our objectives across much of the machinery of government.

Public office in this country has never been more demanding, but it is a privilege to serve the people. All of us as elected representatives in this House,-----

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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What about Deputy Gogarty?

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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-----whether as Taoiseach, Minister, Minister of State or Deputy, have a primary duty to serve all of the people to the best of our ability. Each of us has been entrusted with a responsibility by our respective communities to provide leadership and to make Ireland a better place. As we deal with the impact of the worst global recession in our lifetimes, we are demonstrating leadership. It is no time for soft options, quick fixes or political expediency.

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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What does the Taoiseach call a second Green Party junior Minister?

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Now more than ever we must do what is right. If we make the right choices, we can steer Ireland out of these rough waters.

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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If the Government did what was right it would go.

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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If we do what is right we can prepare Ireland to take up the opportunities that will be presented when this phase passes and achieve the prosperity our nation deserves and has come to expect.

In each of our communities, at every level, we must offer responsible leadership, and for this Government our platform is clear. No matter how difficult the decisions, we will continue to act decisively in the long-term interests of current and future generations of Irish citizens.

I thank my colleagues in the Fianna Fáil Party and our partners in the Green Party as well as the Independent Deputies who support the course of action being taken by this Government.

Photo of Shane McEnteeShane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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What about Deputy Paul Gogarty?

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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He left out Deputy Paul Gogarty.

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I look forward to working with all of you up until the summer of 2012 when we will seek to renew our mandate from the people.

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Nero fiddles while Rome burns.

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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In the meantime, I am proud to lead this Government and to commend this motion to the House.

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Poor Deputy Gogarty is the only Green who has never been a Minister. What did he do to generate the wrath of the leader of Fianna Fáil? He is a forgotten man.

Photo of Michael RingMichael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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What does Deputy Mattie McGrath think of the new Government? The greens have gone yellow, and I am talking about the Fianna Fáil greens.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I do not wish to rain on the parade of anyone who has been elevated to the rank of Cabinet Minister or of those who assume new responsibilities as Ministers of State. However, this is an extraordinary time in our country. From what we have heard, the Taoiseach misses the point completely. Before he was appointed Taoiseach, he had an opportunity, in a month long preparation period, to look at the structure of Departments. He said he wanted to make a real impact on the difficult circumstances Ireland was facing. Today, he has made a mishmash of Departments half way through the life of a Government. For instance, FÁS is to be split among three separate Departments and it is difficult to understand who has responsibility for it.

Napoleon said it was more important to have lucky generals than to have good ones. The Taoiseach could have taken matters a step further and used his luck. He was presented with two Cabinet vacancies on a plate but he failed to deal with real issues which affect our country. The people queuing in Molesworth Street as we speak are not interested in the new appointments made to Cabinet or to the rank of Minister of State. They are interested in the delivery of the service they require, that is, a passport to leave the country. That is a constitutional right, as is the right to travel, which the Government has failed to deliver.

The fact that 434,000 people are without jobs is largely due to the failure of the Fianna Fáil-led Government to plan for the future. The Taoiseach's response to this crisis is to fail to remove a single Minister from his or her job, despite the fact that these people drove the economy onto the rocks in the past number of years. We have a dysfunctional health system where people are afraid to go to the hospitals which are supposed to look after them. The warning signs went unheeded. The Minister for Health and Children continues in her position at the top of this system, despite the rigidity of her approach when radical change is needed to shift emphasis, effect and impact in her Department. We have a line-up of Ministers who have failed in their Departments. Some have become a by-word for inaction and incompetence. The Taoiseach has made some changes. The Tánaiste has been shifted downwards to the new Department of Education and Skills and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs has been moved somewhere else. I am not sure yet.

Photo of Cyprian BradyCyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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Did Deputy Kenny not read the Taoiseach's script?

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The former Minister for Education and Science has moved closer to the Taoiseach. They are on the Front Bench at present and are all very happy. They sit there completely oblivious to the real problems which face people throughout the country every day. People do not have jobs, they cannot pay mortgages and their houses are in negative equity or are being repossessed. People are lying on hospital trolleys and their sons and daughters are being sucked again into emigration.

This is the worst Government in the history of the State and the Taoiseach's motion proposes to keep it virtually intact. Its main figures have been involved in crashing the Irish economy onto the rocks in recent years. The Ministers who were confirmed in their jobs today were at the helm when they ignored all warnings given by independent and political commentators about the running of the economy and their failure to correct it. The same group of Ministers presided over the country's slide into a deep recession in which the numbers of unemployed have increased from 167,000 in 2007 to 432,000 today and where the spectre of forced emigration has become a reality. A budgetary surplus of €346 million in 2007 has become a projected deficit of €20 billion this year. A failed bureaucracy runs the health service in which thousands of X-rays and referral letters are left unread and our education system is expected to have the largest class sizes of any OECD member country this year. This is the legacy of a Government and a Taoiseach who is asking the House to give the same team more time to do more damage. I disagree with that.

Outside Leinster House today, a member of the public has set up a placard showing playing cards carrying photographs of members of the Cabinet. He will not have to change many of those cards. While the Taoiseach could have done a radical reshuffle, he has merely played a weird version of Happy Families and, in the process, has proved himself to be a busted flush. This is not a new Cabinet. People will be talking about a new Cabinet but it is merely more of the same and we are stuck with them.

Matters are much more serious than a continuation of incompetence. The new Cabinet proves that the Taoiseach does not get it. He does not get the idea of consistency. When, at long last, he was dragged away from admiring the fundamentals of our economy and forced to realise that the banking system had failed, his Minister for Finance did one thing right. I give credit where it is due. The Minister for Finance sent a message a foot high to bankers that they must get rid of the guys at the top who caused the problem. The instruction to get rid of them was stark and clear. One would think the Taoiseach himself would have learned from the clarity of that message. One would have thought he would have sent the same message to the Departments which have failed and continue to fail, that the people at the top who are causing the problem must be got rid of. The Taoiseach did not do that.

This tells us two interesting things about his leadership and his Taoiseachship. First, he sticks with the tribalism referred to by his predecessor when he said, "Our ethics are get in here and stay in here at all costs". Any business appointing new managers starts with the task, the job and the requirement and then picks the personnel based on their proven competence to that point or elsewhere. The Taoiseach did not do that. He did not look at the job to be done and he certainly did not look at the track record of the people to be appointed. He took the easiest option, which is the tribal option.

Those watching this debate on television or hearing about it will know in their hearts and souls that if the Cabinet were a company the CEO, looking at senior management with an eight year track record of consistent failure, would have no alternative but to fire them. Any CEO looking at a company that had been brought into international disrepute, had moved from wealth to poverty, was surviving only on borrowings and had shed so many of its workforce would know that he owed it to the shareholders to be courageous, not to keep or promote people based on friendship, location or his own unwillingness to act. He would owe it to the shareholders to cut away the dross and put in new people of proven competence.

The Taoiseach did not do that. It may be that he just could not do it, or has he so little faith in his own backbenchers that he could not see, in all the benches behind him, even half a dozen people with the proven competence, energy and diligence to become Ministers? He did not even have half a dozen promising people who could do much better than the current tired bunch of fatigued and exhausted failures. He did not even have five, or four, or three. I have to sympathise with him in that regard because on this side of the House we have a team ready and willing to take over-----

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----and ready and willing to deliver on three fundamental pillars to resurrect this country, to bring it in a new direction to a different place, to provide jobs, sort out the political system-----

(Interruptions).

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----and transform our health service from being inconsistent-----

Photo of Billy TimminsBilly Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Like the Deputy Gogarty's colleagues.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----to one that will make the patient central to it and the focus of all that should be good in health.

Photo of Bernard AllenBernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The bob a job party.

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Gogarty is the man left out.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I sympathise with the Taoiseach because he did not look around his own backbenches. He has about 20 or 23 former Ministers-----

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Gogarty is the only Green Party member who did not get to be a Minister.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----propping up this Government. He could not find any new faces or any new competence on the backbenches but he said to the Green Party: "Yes, John, I capitulate in front of you before you go to Waterville", or wherever he went at the weekend, "and you can have your second Minister of State-----

A Deputy:

I hope Paul will not meet his Waterloo.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----and that will keep Fianna Fáil alive for another short time in office, so you can go down to the south------

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Jobs for the Greens.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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------and tell the people in the middle of this dark earthwatch hour that you have got your pound of flesh from Taoiseach Cowen and have ended up with your second Minister of State".

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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It is unbelievable.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach has ended up trying to do the impossible today when he could have done so much different. He could have made a radical change in the way the composition of his Cabinet reflects itself. The people know what the Taoiseach seems to have missed. They know that nearly half a million people, 434,000, many of them young, highly qualified and experienced, are now on the dole or, in the case of 50,000 or 60,000 of them, face emigration. This again has become a reality. Young people desperate to get jobs cannot do so and some of them who are forced to emigrate from this country-----

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Cannot get a passport.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----are on the street facing this House and cannot even get a passport-----

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----because of the incompetence and failure of Government to stand over its constitutional requirement.

Photo of Shane McEnteeShane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The under-19 rugby team will not be able to travel from this country on Thursday.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach has managed to transfer unbelievable financial risk from bankers and developers to the taxpayer. I put him on warning that it is my information that when the first tranche of massive loans move into NAMA, there will be no banks to support them. There is not the competence, personnel, experience or the assessment quality of the five-year programmes in respect of those companies in NAMA to do that job. If the Taoiseach does not get this right, he will risk a movement towards the entire collapse of the construction sector. Nothing will move in NAMA with its incapacity to deal with the volume of loans that will be moved across to it.

Somebody pointed out to me that Goldman Sachs, which has a portfolio of approximately €30 billion, has approximately 3,000 people dealing with it. There are currently 60 or 65 people in NAMA dealing with its potential portfolio of more than €50 billion. If the Taoiseach does not get this right, he risks serious constriction of the entire construction sector where no decisions can be made, no assessments can be validated and, as a consequence, serious disruption will impact on the economy. I hope that the Minister for Finance takes on board this point and deals with it.

At the end of this pathetic game of happy families, the Taoiseach's Front Bench is an indictment of his judgment, courage-----

Photo of Bernard AllenBernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Lack of courage.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----and vision. Even the survivors across the House who will walk back to their offices from here know in their hearts that what the Taoiseach has taken the most minimalistic approach to deal with the real problems facing our country. It is a rag upon a stick and it is a well used rag at that.

The Taoiseach has retreated from the challenge of leadership that fell upon his shoulders. He could have been courageous, taken a different approach and from among those on his own backbenches he could have reshuffled his Cabinet so that it would bring some semblance of life to an exhausted group who are fatigued and flattened. They are without ideas, energy, ideals or commitment. I do not wish to rain on the parade of the Ministers elect - Deputies Carey and Killeen - who in fairness have soldiered in the depths of winter for Fianna Fáil on many occasions, and for those promoted to the rank of Minister of State, which is a personal honour for them and their families. However, this Cabinet's time is doomed. The Taoiseach should show courage and seek a dissolution of the Dáil.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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He should let the people cast their mandate on the various teams offering a new prospectus to run this country. Instead, he wants his Government to stay in office for as long as possible. I warn him that his time is nigh, the people are waiting, the clock is ticking and this sticking plaster of putting two new Ministers into Cabinet for a short time will not work. The people know it will not work and they will wait for him with a vengeance when that time comes.

Deputies:

Hear. hear.