David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

It is unfair to say, either way, whether people think the Government is doing a good job. We must wait until the next election.

We can take some pointers from opinion polls, which have been consistent and show a flowing away of some support from the Government, especially the Labour Party. There is a drop in support for the Government parties because of some of the policies which have been put in place. It must be said that some people are not happy with the current performance of the Government.

I have to smile when I hear Government representatives say we should set aside party politics because invariably it is always somebody who is in government. We can all rewind the clock and go back to the time when the Government parties were in opposition, and they were a robust Opposition. In fairness, they were vocal. The then Deputy Eamon Gilmore was on his feet every day of the week. The then Deputy Enda Kenny was vocal against what the Government was doing. That is what Opposition parties do. The notion that we can simply put aside party politics is not living in the real world. We must have a robust Opposition, and that is what we do in this House. We put down motions such as this one to hold the Government to account. That is what our amendment is about because it also deals with the failures of the previous Government as well as what we see are the failings of this Government.

Senator Whelan made a number of comments which I want to address. A number of Senators in this House have repeated the claim that Sinn Féin Oireachtas Members have advocated that people should not pay the household charge. I have stated our position on that umpteen times. We have not on any occasion advocated that people should not pay the charge. Not one of our members has done that because we made a collective decision, as a party, not to ask people not to pay.