Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The former members, and there are at least two that I know of, are on the other side.

We have too much rushed legislation. My colleague, Deputy Fleming, raised serious concerns in the Dáil. The Bill was not even presented to us whether it was passed or not by the Dáil. I do not follow the proceedings in the Dáil, and the bill was presented to us late.

We are not happy. The public is not happy with the way the Government is doing its job. The Labour Party broke so many of its promises, the Fine Gael Party seems determined to slice up Irish society into small sections and to pit one section of society against the other, instead of bringing everyone together, saying that we are all in this together and let us muck in. We on this side have no confidence in the Government. The Appropriation Bill is the only mechanism possible for the Seanad to express confidence in the Government. I have no confidence in the Government and on that basis this party will be voting against the Appropriation Bill 2014 for the first time ever in this House.