Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

When the people spoke, they said they were not happy. That is basically it. What we have seen is a form of Americanisation of Irish politics, in some senses. Those who are not happy decided to vote against Fianna Fáil and the Government, rather than for the Opposition. They have formed the view that the Government is not doing a great job. In essence, mistakes have been made. Seán Lemass once said that anyone who never made a mistake never did anything. In fairness to the Opposition and specifically my colleague, Senator Buttimer, Fine Gael has never made a mistake but then again it has never done anything. Opposition Senators have said that Fianna Fáil has been in power for 20 years, but I remind them that we have come a long way in that time. We made hard decisions to ensure that Ireland is no longer the poor man of Europe. Further hard decisions will have to be made in the future.

If one were to listen to the media, one would think that the end of the world is coming. I would like to give the House two examples of that. The stories in question appeared in the newspapers over the last month. It is interesting to note that people are so busy nowadays that they scan newspapers rather than read them. Headlines are important because approximately 80% of people do not go beyond them. A newspaper used the headline, "Hospital for the elderly turned off heating due to health cuts", above a story about a hospital in Killarney. When I read the content of the article, however, I did not see any further mention of health cuts. The article mentioned that extra blankets had to be brought into the hospital one night when the hospital's boiler broke down. The boiler in question was repaired the following day. The job was done. The headline led to a discussion about health cutbacks on Radio Kerry that lasted the morning. People were under the impression that such cutbacks led to the heating being switched off, but that was not the case. The newspaper in question was reporting fiction rather than the truth. Another newspaper suggested that a review that has yet to be published will recommend that one-person Garda stations in rural Ireland should be closed. People in rural areas, such as Waterford, Cork and Kerry and along the west coast, decided that the recommendation was an abomination. The fact is the Government is not considering the closure of one-person Garda stations. That was not part of the review, which was about making sure such stations are up to standard. There is no question of them being closed in any way, shape or form. On a daily basis, one faces a barrage of such headlines, not only about local issues like Garda stations and the health service but also about national issues like the bail out of the banks.

The problem Senator Buttimer's party is facing is that Fine Gael's policies are not compatible with the Labour Party's policies. Senator Buttimer is anxious for us to call a general election, but I suggest that if it were to happen, we would certainly have another election within nine months. When two entirely incompatible groups go into government together, the honeymoon period might be great but those feelings of euphoria quickly subside when both parties realise that their respective theories on how the economy should be run are divergent. We all remember what happened when this House sat late into the night last year to consider the Government's bank guarantee scheme. The Labour Party opposed the scheme. It was not a question of bailing out the banks; it was a question of trying to safeguard everyone's deposits and prevent a run on the banks. The Labour Party did not want it to happen, which did not look great. Perception sometimes becomes reality. If we had not guaranteed people's deposits, their hard-earned savings might have disappeared. As a Government, the responsible thing for us to do was to ensure that such savings were safeguarded. The reality is that we need to make our case to the Irish people. We have to ensure they understand the difficult decisions that are being taken. Any mistakes that have been made will be rectified. The most vulnerable people will be protected. I commend Fine Gael for supporting us when we took difficult decisions and needed support. In the next three years, while still in Government, we will try to ensure we restore the faith of the people in the Government and our party.