Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

Since last Sunday's announcement and confirmation of the bailout, I have felt a great sense of shame for our country. I also felt physically sick at where our country has ended up. This generation cannot be proud of its legacy or the mess we have left for the next generation to clean up. The Government should apologise to the people for where we are at.

We are at a serious juncture in our history regarding the EU-IMF bailout. That is following a week in which we heard successive Ministers lie to the people. They were in denial first and then they lied. They have betrayed this country by their actions over the past week. Their trust and credibility are in question and, by extension, the Government is now in question. People are afraid for the country's and their children's future.

There is great instability. I do not believe the Green Party intended to destabilise the economy. The net effect of its actions yesterday, however, achieved that internationally.

The bailout is necessary and parties that say otherwise are living in cloud cuckoo land. It may be difficult for us to understand, believe and accept that the bailout is necessary, but we must acknowledge that our banks could not function without it.

The old way of politics is no longer working. It has failed our people and our country. We are now staring into the abyss. Politicians of all parties must take their responsibilities seriously. It will be a challenge to the political system, but I ask the Leader's party to use its influence to bring the budget forward to an earlier date. Let us have full transparency about the budget and debate it as mature parliamentarians.

The Opposition will more than likely be expected to implement the four-year plan referred to by previous speakers. If we are to do so, it is essential that the Opposition be a party to the memorandum of agreement on the negotiations with the EU and the IMF. We are at the edge of the precipice, so we need new politics and new leadership.