Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I ask the Leader to request the Minister for Finance to come to this House to tell Members who demanded that the minimum wage be cut and explain why it was cut. Minimum wage recipients, those who need money most, will lose approximately €46 per month, almost €1,000 per annum, as a result of this reduction. Why was the minimum wage reduced? Perhaps the Members opposite can explain that.

Will the Leader explain to the House what the Green Party is going to do? Indeed I call on the Green Party to state whether it proposes to stay and participate in or leave government. Is it hitching a lift to the middle of nowhere? If it wants an election, it should tell us when it wants one.

Will the Leader invite the Taoiseach to come to the House? There is a spring in the step of Government Members having witnessed the Taoiseach being reincarnated this week, while the Fourth Estate is ecstatic. However, the leader of the Government needs to explain why he presided over and participated in a Government which got us into the economic mess we are in today. Senator Harris speaks about a national consensus and a new movement. I want a new Ireland. The poet, Theo Dorgan, gave a fine address in UCC yesterday. We must be a hopeful, forward looking nation, but we cannot be under the Government which leads us. Is this about the Taoiseach holding on to his position as leader of Fianna Fáil or the base Fianna Fáil vote? Is this about him upping his performance to appease parliamentary party members or is it about the people? If the budget announced this week taught us something, it is that people matter. Does the Leader get this?