Ivana Bacik (Independent)

On behalf of the Labour Party I support this motion of no confidence in the Government. Listening to Senator Boyle, I was struck by the tone of his delivery and I thought he was going to tell us about his sleepless nights, as his party leader has done. The Green Party walked itself into the straitjacket of government, as it has been described. There was an alternative in 2007 and the Green Party did not have to choose to prop up Fianna Fáil in power for what turned out to be more than 13 and a half years. Options were presented at the time. In 2007, in the run-up to the election campaign, Opposition spokespersons from the Labour Party and the Fine Gael, such as Deputies Joan Burton and Richard Bruton, pointed out the madness of building an economy on construction. They pointed out the over-reliance on the construction sector and the fact that far too many jobs were dependent on construction and far too much Government spending was dependent on the impermanent income derived from stamp duty. To suggest there was no alternative is to mislead.

I support this motion but there is no need for it because it is clear the majority of the people have lost all confidence in this Government. That is why it is clear that at the next election we will see a significant shift in the political landscape, with a distinct move away from the dominance of Fianna Fáil in Irish politics. Fianna Fáil figures have swooped as low as 13% and it is clear from the pattern of movement in the opinion polls that all confidence has been lost. Confidence has also been lost in the assurances we heard from the Minister for Finance and from the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, today. The expression of the view that we have come out of the worst rings hollow. That is why we will see a welcome change of government in the next election.

Let us not forget that Fianna Fáil has been in power for 13 and a half years without a break and, before that, for the vast majority of the past 20 years apart from the rainbow coalition. Let us not forget that when the rainbow coalition left office in 1997, with a Labour Party Minister for Finance, there was a budget surplus and the beginnings of a real boom. This should have been sustainable as a boom and instead it was directed into a bubble of property speculation brought about by Fianna Fáil in power. There is always a problem when one party becomes so closely associated with the State as Fianna Fáil has done. That brings about an arrogance, a staleness and a reluctance to bring in new policies. That does not excuse the intervention of the IMF, the ECB and the EU. It does explain, however, the sleepwalking of those in government and why they sleepwalked us into an abyss. They allowed the code words of light touch and principles-based regulation to mean, in effect, no regulation and allowed the economy to slide to the appalling state we are now in.

During the speech on the budget, the Minister for Finance asked what other parties would have done differently. Senator Boyle has taken up that theme. The Labour Party would not have continued the extensive tax breaks for property development and speculation that directly led to the development of ghost estates throughout the country and the reckless lending spree that brought down our banks and, with them, our economy. The Labour Party would have ensured less reliance on the shaky foundations of stamp duty as a source of State income. We would have sought a more sustainable job creation strategy not based so firmly on the construction sector. We know the boom was built on a bubble of property speculation. We knew that in 2007 and warnings were given, yet Fianna Fáil went ahead and bought the election, accusing opponents of talking down the economy.