Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Today the much anticipated Cabinet reshuffle takes place. The Taoiseach will obviously fill the vacancies by promoting backbenchers and change some responsibilities but the truth is that the reality will continue for the people tomorrow. The reality is that the Government has failed to lead. Nowhere is that more obvious than in what is happening outside the passport office which is simply unacceptable. There is a backlog, panic and upset. A woman left Wexford at 3 a.m. to try to ensure her son would be able to go on a school trip. A family which saved hard-earned money to go on a holiday has now been thrown completely into disarray. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to ensure the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin, will come into the House today to outline the action he intends to take. This situation cannot go on; a solution must be found. I have to ask what the public sector unions hope to achieve with this action which is impacting badly on the public but it has been ongoing for nine or ten weeks.

Everyone in the House is familiar with the queries about medical cards which are not being answered and aware that people are waiting to hear about social welfare payments which are being delayed. We have to remind ourselves how this happened. It happened because of a breakdown in the negotiations between Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and the unions before Christmas. What has the Government been doing since? What is being done to deal with this backlog? We are talking about 40,000 applications, social welfare offices that are not responding to representations and county councils that cannot answer the telephone. This has been going on for nine to ten weeks and I am concerned about the frontline services affecting our citizens. I want to hear what the Minister has to say about it today.

The unions have reminded us that their members earning under €30,000 had money taken from them while senior civil servants had money given back to them. This emanates from the inequitable budget which has totally fuelled what has been going on in recent weeks.