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Dáil Éireann debate -
Friday, 6 May 2016

Vol. 908 No. 3

Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed)

I will now take nominations for the Office of Taoiseach.

Tairgim:

Go n-ainmneoidh Dáil Éireann an Teachta Enda Kenny chun a cheaptha ag an Uachtarán mar Thaoiseach.

I move:

That Dáil Éireann nominate Deputy Enda Kenny for appointment by the President to be Taoiseach.

Fourth time is the charm, as they say. As Deputies can see, I am very eager to get on with this speech on the fourth occasion. All of us in this Chamber have been trusted with the responsibility. It is up to us to build consensus. It is up to us to work together and it is up to us to reject the politics of the past and embrace the politics of the future. Resilience is needed. Patience is needed. Fortitude is needed and it has not been found wanting from many in this House. It would be remiss of me not to pay respect to those who have engaged and played their part in this process, those in Fianna Fáil, who have worked to compromise and those Independents who have worked together to build consensus, build foundations and build trust.

We are all aware that government is not merely about having power but about using it to achieve the kind of change we wish to see in our society. The truth is that no problem we face as a nation is bigger than our capacity as a people to overcome it. However, that requires parties and people working together and pursuing those same overarching goals of ensuring the well-being of our nation, our society, our people and the most vulnerable within it.

I have no doubt that the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, has done this and will continue to do this. I have no doubt that those of us who are willing can work together and will work together with trust, transparency and tenacity underpinning our efforts. This new partnership Government would work with an ethos of openness and inclusivity and I believe that nobody would be better placed to head that Government than the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny.

History often has a tendency to chime with the present day and while we must today look forward and embrace the politics of the future, it is often instructive to learn from the past. In 1922, Michael Collins, speaking as he nominated a President, said "the Irish nation, at the present moment, is a ship without a captain, and a ship, as we all know, cannot get on without a captain." Today we face a similar issue. Ireland needs a Taoiseach to match the challenges we have ahead, a Taoiseach to master the opportunities we face, a Taoiseach who can harness the great capabilities of this Parliament and a Taoiseach who will always put the country first. Deputy Enda Kenny is all of these things and he should be our next Taoiseach.

President Higgins often implores us to be the arrow and not the target, to lead and illuminate the path ahead, not just for ourselves but for others too, to learn from the politics of the past and embrace the politics of the future, to reject the politics of anger and embrace the politics of answers. That is why all of us chose to seek public office and why Deputy Enda Kenny came to lead our country in an hour of need. It is why I am nominating him to lead us at a time when, once again, we need leadership and a Government.

I will close with a quote from somebody who is not a US President, for once. It is Arthur Griffith, who wrote in the first issue of Nationality in 1915: "we believe, in short, that Ireland will be again one of these days what it was in a former day, the light of the world, and that the chief business of every Irishman is to hasten that day." That was in 1915, 101 years ago. How far we have come but how far we still have to go. It has been 70 days, as Members are aware, since our election. We have capacity, opportunity and the ability to be the best country in the world. We also have challenges and the urgency of now is too great to ignore. We have no time to lose and it has been 70 days. I am proud to nominate Deputy Enda Kenny to be Taoiseach.

It is my honour and privilege to second the nomination of Deputy Enda Kenny as Taoiseach in the Thirty-second Dáil. In the words of John F. Kennedy, "we must think and act not only for the moment but for our time". Deputy Enda Kenny, over the past number of weeks, has shown himself as a leader who acts and thinks not only for himself but for the good of the country and our citizens. Through negotiation and listening to the views of those elected by the people, Deputy Kenny has put the country first by reading the signs of the times and putting in place a programme for partnership.

We stand on the brink of the next important chapter in Irish history. It is important that we have a leadership with vision, compassion and a sense of common decency. Deputy Enda Kenny has all these qualities in abundance. I firmly believe Deputy Kenny, as Taoiseach, will leave the country on the right track, encouraging consensus and open communication in facing the many challenges that lie ahead for all of us in the Thirty-second Dáil. I therefore formally second the proposal that Dáil Éireann elect Deputy Enda Kenny as Taoiseach.

We will now take other statements. Is the Taoiseach speaking on behalf of Fine Gael?

I think that will be after-----

It is the main spokespersons. Who is speaking for Fine Gael?

I apologise. I did not think I was meant to speak now.

Where is Deputy Shane Ross?

The Deputy is slightly distracted.

All of us must thank the Irish people for their patience and forbearance in what has been a very difficult period since the general election, as all of us in the House in all parties grapple to come to terms with the new political reality. We have been presented by the Irish people with a very diverse political position and I acknowledge the efforts by many in this House to try to ensure the outcome can produce a Government and bring us to this point today.

Today I truly hope we will see the creation of a partnership Government.

This will be a Government that sets out a vision of a strong economy, but a strong economy that will help to deliver a fair society, with each - the strong economy and the fair society - dependent on the other to succeed. The success or failure of any new partnership Government will be measured not just in terms of percentage points of economic growth, bond yields or bond yield changes but rather by the quality of people's lives and the opportunities for a fair society for all our citizens. A fair community leans on a strong economy and, as we set about trying to put together a new Government, we are determined to build that competitive and adaptable economy right across the country, centred on the aim of decent work for everyone. This is at the heart of the development of the core ambition for a new Government. We now need to use our economic success to make the lives of all our people a little bit easier. The Government, though, will not achieve this ambition working alone. This is a partnership Government and it will not just be for those in government or for those in the Oireachtas to achieve it; we will also need to create the scope to empower communities and citizens so that we can all truly work together to achieve these aims. Ireland has changed and our citizens, rightly, have higher expectations. Politics must now respond to those expectations openly and quickly. It must offer people more choice and diversity and help them to be better able to manage threats in their lives. Our aim in 2016 must be to build a nation that values all our citizens. The deep economic recession and crisis this country faced has meant there have been many lost years and, indeed, many damaged lives from those difficult years. Those gaps cannot be instantly bridged; there will be bumpy periods ahead. There are potential shocks to our small, open economy. We must be prepared for these and, as we handle these difficulties, we must ensure that we put in place a Government that is able to respond to that. I truly hope Deputy Rock, on his fourth attempt, will manage that today. I joked with him that when I nominated the Taoiseach in 2011 it only took one go, but I am sure he will have persuaded us today.

As we form a new Government and as we develop a new programme for Government, the mandate for that Government must be based on three overarching elements: we must create a country that is a great place to rear our children; we must help all our people to fulfil their potential through the early years and through our education system; and we must ensure that work gives decent reward. We must create a great place to work and do business in this country, helping all our people find homes for their families and the supports that give their children a good start in life, in safe and sustainable communities. We must ensure that we create a great country in which to grow old, giving all our people confidence that they can get care when they need it and the chance to remain independent and secure in advancing years. We must be determined that this approach will take root in all our communities, both urban and rural.

One of the weaknesses exposed in the Irish governance system is that it is all too often focused on the short term and does not easily accommodate long-term thinking. There will be an onus on the Government and on all of us in this House to work to build action plans and to get the input of all Members - nobody has a monopoly on wisdom - to develop long-term action plans to address the challenges we face. There are policy challenges where long-term planning and thinking - and a degree of political consensus, I would argue - are vital to executing a timely plan. Such challenges include climate change and long-term funding models for pensions, higher education and health. We need to ask this Dáil to work with the next Government to develop long-term thinking in those important areas.

A new partnership Government will be, it is fair to say, unlike any other established in this country since the foundation of the State. This will be a Government that comprises great diversity, but the diversity in the Thirty-second Dáil need not result in division. Diversity is not the same as division, because I believe those of us in government and, indeed, those of us in this House, are united in our common cause to make life better for every person in every part of this country. We will argue over the modality of how best to do it, but much more will unite us than will divide us. This is the shared ambition that will burn strongly through the newly published programme for Government.

It is worth acknowledging the process we went through in order to reach a point at which we could endeavour to put a Government in place. There are have been formal processes of meetings and agreements since 24 March. There have been many hours and, indeed, days and weeks of formal discussions, informal conversations and sharing of priorities and perspectives. I truly hope those discussions will result in a Government that can address the challenges that this country continues to face.

The period of waiting must end for the Irish people. We thank the Irish people for their patience. However, the challenges ahead are building up. The opportunities for this country are great and many, and a new Government working with a new Dáil in a new manner can ensure that we collectively work in the interests of all our people.

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party I will outline our approach to this vote and to the broader issue of how our country is to be governed during the Thirty-second Dáil. Today potentially represents - I use the word "potentially" noting the absence of the Independent Alliance, but that may change in the coming minutes - a major turning point for Irish democracy. It marks a decisive shift away from a Government with absolute power to control our Parliament. In many ways it is a new beginning, and it presents challenges and opportunities to every person who was given the honour of being elected to Dáil Éireann. It brings with it new rules and new expectations.

The result of February's election was unprecedented. Fianna Fáil won the support of over half a million people. We had the highest increase in vote numbers, percentage of votes and extra seats won. This progress was seen in every part of the country. However, while this is a strong mandate, we accept that this is a diverse Dáil and we respect the mandate of others. My party presented a very clear platform to the people, and since the election we have worked every day to try to implement as much of that platform as possible.

The election represented an overwhelming rejection of the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government, its policies and its hyper-political behaviour. That is why we have sought to completely replace that Government. We sought to secure a Government led by Fianna Fáil with the inclusion and support of others. This was the only possible way of removing Fine Gael from Government. On three separate occasions we put this option to the House, and on each of those three occasions no party and no Independent Member supported the alternative. Those in the House who try to lecture us about facilitating a Fine-Gael-led minority Government need to remember that they refused point blank to vote for the only way of preventing this.

When we last voted on nominations for Taoiseach, there came a point at which we had to move on and consider alternative approaches. We did this because, unlike Sinn Féin, the hard left alliance, the Labour Party and others, we believe it is the duty of all Deputies to be constructive and we reject their approach of seeking to maintain a model of a dominant Government versus total opposition.

As the House knows, we entered into lengthy discussions with the Fine Gael Party concerning the formation of a minority Government. These negotiations were not easy, and they confirmed the serious and substantive policy differences between parties. We believe Fine Gael remains committed to the idea that the outgoing Government's policies were correct, and it is reluctant to accept the need for a significantly more progressive approach in many areas. For example, there was near-total resistance to any major initiative that would tackle the massive increase in waiting times within the acute hospital system. Initiatives to address the social and economic damage of household debt received equally strong resistance. While the agreement does contain a commitment to restart efforts to build real North-South co-operation on services and policies, we see no understanding of the deep damage caused by five years of disengagement from Northern Ireland by a Government that is a co-guarantor of agreements that remain only partly implemented.

Just as important, five years of dominating the Labour Party and aggressively spinning everything has left a deep impact. As we saw yesterday, Fine Gael's concept of partnership does not yet extend to agreeing in advance about media briefings. The difficulties encountered in reaching the short arrangement published earlier this week confirmed that no credible coalition between the parties was possible. Such a Government would have been all about sharing the spoils of power and not an honest partnership with an agreed action programme.

The arrangement we have reached is similar in scope and duration to models followed in many other countries. As we said when we first proposed the idea of a minority Government, they are a regular feature of successful European democracies with high standards of governance. The confidence and supply arrangement allows the Government to achieve and retain office for a defined period, enables it to administer agreed public policy and ensures that it is funded.

However, it leaves the majority in Dáil Éireann to decide on the vast majority of legislative and other policies. This confidence and supply approach is today in operation in a number of European countries. The confidence and supply arrangement covers broad principles of policy and is comparable to a full programme for Government. It sets certain conditions on policy areas where Government is primarily responsible for introducing measures. I should have said it is not comparable to a full programme for Government. Fianna Fáil retains the right and ability to seek to create majorities for proposals outside of those agreed. We retain the right and the intention to actively scrutinise the work of Ministers and to propose resolutions seeking new policies and criticising existing ones. Fundamentally, it is up to the Government to come here and win debates in order to pass many measures and it is the Government's duty to allow this Parliament to play a full and active role in the development and enactment of policy.

The agreement covers three budget cycles, subject to an overriding framework. This framework requires that Ireland achieves the reasonable fiscal targets most parties accepted during the election. This will demand restrained budgeting which will see a significant fall in the relative size of the national debt. Where there is space for new measures, the weighting must be towards improving services, with a minimum ratio of 2 to 1 in favour of service improvements over tax cuts. Within the tax cuts, there must be a decisive shift towards a more progressive approach and the regressive policy of abolishing the USC during this Dáil will not be pursued. If the Government implements the agreement, it will allow important but sustainable relief weighted to medium and low-income families.

In terms of specific policy areas, there are important measures, but again it does not seek to be a comprehensive statement of policies for this Dáil. In each of our priority areas for delivering a recovery which is felt by all, there are provisions which will make a big difference. These include employment, homelessness, housing, training, education, health, urban and community development, tackling crime and strengthening the recovery. The people across rural Ireland know a two-tier recovery is in place and far more has to be done to address the issues impacting on people who live in rural Ireland.

In housing, immediate action on rent allowance and the housing assistance payment will prevent more people becoming homeless. There are commitments to build more local authority houses and to introduce an affordable housing scheme.

No, there is not.

Every Deputy elected to this House believes that more immediate action has to be taken on housing. We also have to address mortgage arrears and variable mortgage interest rates as families are still under enormous pressure. In education, the reduction of class sizes, the reintroduction of guidance counselling and the restoration of grant support for disadvantaged students to access postgraduate education are important and urgent measures. We have a strong society and a strengthening economy and this is because of the Irish people, the skills they have developed over decades, their commitment to community and their belief in building an inclusive future.

The damage caused by regressive and divisive policies in recent years has been significant. The new Government has not committed to the scale of comprehensive and urgent action which we believe is needed. In many areas, the programme for Government represents a repackaging of current policies and bland aspiration rather than a radical commitment to action. Policy on health remains as incoherent as ever and specific actions in most areas are limited. Pushing for movement on these areas will form our priority in every part of our work in this House. We do, however, acknowledge that the programme for Government marks a step away from the priorities of Fine Gael and the Labour Party during the past five years. It now talks about a fairer Ireland much more and this is a step in the right direction.

Since our arrangement concerning a minority Government was published, we have had the absurd situation where parties who agreed to nothing are condemning us for not agreeing enough. In many cases, these are the same people condemning us for allowing Fine Gael back into Government having spent two months demanding we go into Government with it. Given Sinn Féin's attacks on us today, that party might take some time to look back on what it said before. I know Deputy Adams is a great believer in trying to delete past statements-----

A Deputy

Past history.

-----but the record of the House still shows that on this day last month he said, "I urge [Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael], therefore, to accept the new realities and that they are the only ones fit to form a Government." Unlike Sinn Féin and others, we have worked constructively and have focused on substance and I believe we have achieved important progress. They believe in finding problems to exploit. We believe in finding problems to solve.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

The House will shortly get the opportunity to vote on the Bill which will suspend water charges. Following a reasonable process, the majority in the Dáil will then decide what happens to water charges. In addition, the days of an out-of-control, bloated and arrogant commercial firm will be ended, Oireachtas and independent oversight will be asserted and the massive expenditures on lobbying, opinion polls and corporate brand building will stop. Water policy is not the most important issue facing our country and it has taken too much time. It should not have taken so much effort to reverse a clearly failed policy which had been rejected by the people following a full debate.

Deputy Alan Kelly, suffering from the withdrawal of his drug of choice, has claimed that it is treason to remove this regressive, inefficient and democratically rejected tax.

If those in the Labour Party think it is treason to set out a policy, to cost it, to secure overwhelming public support for it and to try implement it, then that says much about the state of the Labour Party. The Labour Party remains so committed to a sure-that-is-what-you-say-during-elections style of politics that the only thing which currently unites its members is fury that another party might keep its promises. I note that the Labour Party's seven Deputies will today vote against Deputy Enda Kenny, apparently, although every one of them was elected on a platform of wanting to participate in a Government led by the Deputy.

The formation of a minority Government on the basis of a confidence-and-supply agreement represents one of the most radical changes in our politics since Independence. The rules of how we all do the people's business are changing profoundly. Fianna Fáil is very pleased that its suggestion on the Monday after the election for immediate movement on deep reform of Dáil proceedings has led to an ambitious reform programme that will shortly be implemented. If the House is serious about implementing this, then the Dáil will be a far more constructive and consultative place, one that will have to come up with solutions to issues rather than engage in the normal Punch-and-Judy politics. The end of the Government's ability to order all business-----

Sorry, Deputy Martin, the time has elapsed. Can I take it that the House will allow Deputy Martin to conclude? Please conclude, Deputy.

It represents a major challenge to Government to treat the Oireachtas seriously and to build support for policies. However, it is also a challenge to every Member of the Oireachtas. As we have seen since the election, there are those who want to maintain the model of dominant government and total opposition. They do not like the challenge of finding compromise and building consensus. They want to maintain a winner-takes-all system so that some day they might get their turn. They are satisfied with the narcissism of large differences, where there is no such thing as a middle ground and where the only valid differences are those based on ideological clarity. We reject that approach and believe the people elected all of us to put in place a government and play a full and active part as parliamentarians in developing and enacting policy. With no fixed majority in the House, the only way any of us can pass measures is to make our case and build support.

The Deputy's time is up.

Certainly, there will be a good deal of game-playing - like what we have seen in recent weeks - from a party that wanted to play politics on motions and so on without getting down to the work of actually getting something done.

However, I think we have seen over the past five years that the people are not fooled by such manoeuvrings. The Government will most likely regularly not get its way on motions and specific proposals. If it accepts this and reduces the number of areas where it demands the right to be decisive, then there is no reason to be concerned. If it maintains its obsessive focus on media spinning and presentation together with its habit of denying problems until they reached crisis level, then there will be serious obstacles to the working of this new reality.

We believed that Fine Gael should be replaced in government. However, the majority of the House refused to support us in this effort. We have accepted the responsibility we believe every Deputy carries of ensuring that a government is in place and of ensuring that we radically reform the Dáil in order that it will respond to the people's will, as expressed in the election.

The Deputy has no respect for the Dáil.

By our abstention on this vote and the vote on the nomination of Ministers, a Government will be able to be formed. Commitments have been given to the effect that the worst elements of the last Government's policies and approaches will be ended and important progress will be seen in some areas. Most of all, the formation of a minority Government means that we will have an opportunity to continue to seek to implement the policies upon which we were elected by working to build a majority of support for them from opposition.

This new departure for Irish politics is a major challenge. It requires putting aside old assumptions and lazy conventions. It gives everyone a role to play and a duty to be active and constructive. We accept this and we look forward to getting on with the business of this Dáil. Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for your indulgence.

Our next speaker is Deputy Gerry Adams. I will extend the same facility to him in terms of additional time if the House is in agreement.

I will not be as long-winded, a Cheann Comhairle. If Teachta Martin follows the logic of his criticism of Fine Gael, then he should vote against today's nomination. Why did Fianna Fáil not form a Government with Fine Gael when Teachta Enda Kenny made that generous offer to Teachta Martin? It was because, according to Teachta Martin, he sought a mandate to put Deputy Enda Kenny and Fine Gael out of power, out of government. Yet, today, 70 days on from the general election, Fianna Fáil will support a fourth attempt to elect Deputy Enda Kenny as Taoiseach and elect a Government.

What kind of a Government is it? It is one which has imposed a democratic lockdown on the Dáil. We cannot get on with our business. We cannot raise the legitimate questions that we have a mandate to raise. It is not a Government that enjoys the support of the majority of citizens. Moreover, if it eventually gets elected - I note the absence of some of the Independent Deputies or "Endapendents" today - it will be, mór an trua, led once again by Fine Gael, aided and abetted this time by its new partners from Fianna Fáil and a smattering of so-called Independent Deputies.

I congratulate them all on their magnificent negotiations in recent weeks. It is a wonderful job of work but have these negotiations delivered the real changes required to resolve the crises in health and housing, the abandonment of rural Ireland, the necessary work to build a fairer and more equal Ireland, including the ongoing efforts in the North? Those of us who have a genuine vision for a real republic, who want to bring the Proclamation of 1916 to fruition know full well of course that is not going to happen under this Fine Gael–Fianna Fáil arrangement. Dhiúltaigh an Teachta Micheál Martin dul i gcomhrialtas le Fine Gael. Dúirt sé nach mbeadh a leithéid ann, ach is é sin go díreach an rud atá ann anois.

This joint Fine Gael–Fianna Fáil programme is a master class in waffle and bluster. It has no real ambition, no big ideas, no costings, little real detail. Never was so much negotiated for so long for so little. There are a few miserly lines, not even a section on health, which say the "humane approach" for the revision of medical card provision should be maintained. What "humane approach"? I would dare the Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil leaders to stand up here today and tell the Dáil the current approach is a humane one, when all of us have constituents and there are citizens at their wits' end because they cannot get a medical card under the current regime.

In respect of housing, there is no commitment whatsoever on the construction of social homes. There is only a reiteration of the haphazard approach to a social State endorsed housing and homelessness crisis and emergency that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil caused in the first instance. We were told that the issue of water was the main point of contention between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and Fianna Fáil said quite clearly, and repeated several times in its manifesto, that water charges must be scrapped and Irish Water must be abolished. Now we are told that Irish Water remains and water charges are merely suspended. Ní hé seo an méid a bhí á iarraidh ag na vótóirí. Many of the "Endapendents" who have almost signed up for this were among the most vocal opponents of the policy agenda of Fine Gael and the Labour Party, yet here they are, or indeed here they are not – where are they? - seeking to vote for Enda Kenny for Taoiseach.

Maith an fear.

The Deputy should leave the wit to Deputy Mary Lou McDonald.

The Taoiseach said he would not countenance forming a Government beholden to Independents. He said it numerous times so there is another election promise out the window. Tugtar Rialtas nua ar seo, ach leis na daoine céanna agus an treo céanna. Ar deireadh, beidh na polasaithe agus na torthaí ceánna againn le linn an chéad Rialtas eile. However long the Government lasts, whenever it is eventually elected, if it is, Sinn Féin will fulfil its obligations as the real leaders of the Opposition. We will support positive measures brought from the Government and particularly the Opposition benches. We will oppose the Government when it is wrong. In the interests of citizens we will hold this Government comprising Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the "Endapendents", who will prop them up, to proper and robust account.

I call the Tánaiste.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

The Labour Party will be voting against the nomination of Deputy Enda Kenny as Taoiseach today.

That is a big U-turn.

A Deputy

Not five years ago the Labour Party got on board with him.

They were not going to vote a second time.

A Deputy

Five years too late.

Overboard a second time.

That is consistency.

Assuming that a certain noble Member of the House shows up as we expect - we do not know where he is yet but presumably he will arrive, otherwise the Ceann Comhairle may have to call a sos to allow people address their phones properly and find out what exactly is going on -

our vote will be principally due to the fact that this Government arrangement is something of a charade, but we may learn more as the day proceeds.

Talking yesterday about the length of time it had taken to produce this deeply flawed arrangement my colleague, Deputy Willie Penrose, referred to the old saying that a long churning did not make good butter. It reminded me of the advertising slogan, "I can't believe it's not butter!" In the case of this arrangement, nobody believes it is not a coalition. Let us be clear. It is a coalition - a coalition of convenience that puts naked political self-interest ahead of the people's interests.

So that is the way you worked.

Two deeply conservative parties have ended their pretence of civil war and done a deal.

It kept them opposed for long enough.

However, it is a tawdry deal on a number of levels that carries the real risk of undoing the hard won progress made since Fianna Fáil collapsed the economy. I have been honoured and privileged to serve in various coalition Governments with both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. In those Governments the member parties worked together and compromised in the nation's and the people's interests.

Labour's way or Frankfurt's way.

That is what coalition is about. There was a unity of purpose and trust, which is essential to the operation of a Government. Without a unity of purpose, a sense of direction and trust, the Government has a limited prospect of either reform or duration. This coalition of convenience is very different. As the leader of Fianna Fáil has just made clear, Fianna Fáil effectively will have its boot on the throat of the Taoiseach, meaning that it can push through whatever it wishes-----

-----reject whatever it wishes and collapse the arrangement whenever it chooses to do so. Let us not be fooled by Deputy Micheál Martin's convenient and, presumably, limited pledge to support Fine Gael for a period. Fianna Fáil will pick its time, regardless of what deal has been done. Until then, as we have seen, it will put its interests ahead of the national interest every time. Water is probably the first example, but it will not be the last. Having learned nothing from the reckless abolition of rates in the late 1970s, Fianna Fáil identified water charges as a key priority-----

The Labour Party got rid of them.

-----although Deputy Micheál Martin has already downgraded it. Of course, the reason it was his priority was to protect his political hide from Sinn Féin.

The Labour Party has more reason to worry about Sinn Féin than we do.

In so doing and in Fine Gael's disappointing cave-in to Fianna Fáil's reckless demands-----

Did the Deputy read her party's programme in 2011? It was against water charges.

-----the coalition of convenience has all but ensured Ireland will have to wait for the top quality water and sewerage infrastructure that it desperately needs. All Members of the House know this.

What was on the Deputy's posters in 2011?

This is not an abstract price that will be paid. Homes and businesses will pay the price in the coming years. Will today's coalition of convenience give an assurance to the law-abiding, honest citizens who have paid their water charges that they will be fully refunded and, if so, when? That is the least law-abiding people deserve, that their abiding by the laws of the State is respected by the Government and the governing arrangements of the State.

At its very first test on a very difficult issue, the coalition has failed, but we will wait and see. How can we possibly expect this Government to deliver on future challenges? I notice, for example, that the patched-up programme for Government singularly fails to commit to delivering a living wage for workers, but a recovering economy needs to improve wages and to invest in upskilling workers to ensure people can both get jobs and maintain and retain jobs.

Is it any surprise when two conservative parties come together to form a coalition where business interests will take precedence over workers’ interests? I notice, too, that the commitment to free GP care for all has been dropped or disappeared simply because it will be difficult to achieve. How will universal health care ever be delivered if this critical plank in the system is now abandoned? Does anybody now doubt that free GP care for young children and older people over 70 would have been delivered without the Labour Party in government?

There is token reference in the document to the challenge of future pension provision for older people. As Minister for Social Protection, I worked hard with many people both inside the House and outside it, and in government, to put in place the roadmap-----

You attacked the vulnerable.

-----for a dedicated pension scheme-----

You did nothing.

You protected savings.

-----to ensure all workers have supplementary pension provision.

In five years you did nothing.

A Cheann Comhairle, I have not interrupted anybody and I understand-----

Keep it for the Sunday Independent, Willie.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

Yes. Hear, hear. Some respect, please, a Cheann Comhairle.

-----that people over here are smarting at the indignity of some of the things that they have agreed to, but I did not interrupt them and I do not expect them to interrupt me.

So Willie, keep it for the Sunday Indo.

Stop interrupting.

That roadmap for supplementary pension provision is now ready. It can be implemented by the new Government. Older people and people at work need proper pension provision. We have improved pensions. We brought back the Christmas bonus - while you guys cancelled it - but it is not enough for people to live on an income and supports of roughly €250 a week. We all know that. We have an ageing society.

So how come it did not even merit a look at? It is very disappointing if we are ambitious for a fairer and progressive Ireland.

The Tánaiste should ask the lone parents about that.

I doubt that the eighth amendment will now be repealed or even offered and put to the people during the course of this Government's term in office. The coalition of convenience has cynically kicked the issue to touch. The issue is when people will get a right to express their views on a needed change and a needed review of the Constitution. By contrast, if there is a problem that the new Government thinks can be solved by throwing money at it and hoping it goes away, it seems it is going to do that. Perhaps that is what the prolonged absences are about - some of that is still being thrashed out.

Virtually every Irish person is familiar with the concept of "one for everybody in the audience”. That is what the negotiations behind this new arrangement have amounted to. At a time when Ireland has not reached a point of safety, when the public purse remains constrained, when there are potential risks such as Brexit on the horizon, Independent Deputies have been granted all manner of narrow constituency and sectoral pet projects without any evidence of costing, when they will be implemented and the duration and impact of the measures. Everybody here works hard for their constituents, but every Deputy in this House is entitled to put the Irish people's interest first, and is required to do that.

Nobody can say this has been happening in recent weeks. Perhaps some of the Independents can be excused on the basis they are new to this. Some of them chanced their arm and got away with it. In some ways they are unable to believe their luck, provided the talks finish at some stage.

For Fianna Fáil, however, there really are no excuses. All Members know how Fianna Fáil operates: party before country.

They wrecked the country twice.

However, for Fine Gael to sign up to this fairly tawdry arrangement is an entirely new and unwelcome departure. One hundred years on from the Rising that lit the road to independence-----

The Deputy did not come to Clonmel to celebrate Labour's centenary.

-----the people deserve better from the two Civil War parties. They have ended their Civil War politics all right but only to concoct, as I stated, this coalition of convenience that it appears will put citizens' interests last.

I stress the Labour Party's vote today is not a personal reflection on the Taoiseach, who is an honourable man and a hard-working leader. Over the past five years, Deputy Enda Kenny worked day and night with my party to rescue the country from ruin and set it on the road to recovery.

He followed Fianna Fáil's programme.

In the future, the Labour Party will look at the issues on a case-by-case basis and when there is merit in supporting them, we will do so. While recovery has not yet been felt by everybody, there has been a huge amount of progress. It is difficult for Fianna Fáil to acknowledge that it left a ruin. There has been a significant amount of recovery, including unemployment figures showing the number of people out of work fell by more than 25,000 over the past 12 months. The Exchequer figures are ahead of target as people return to work and the tax take is increasing. One can see it in how the Social Insurance Fund is now in surplus.

What about homelessness?

When the Labour Party came in, we inherited a deficit of €2.8 billion.

Why then was the Labour Party not re-elected? Poor you, not being in government again.

A Cheann Comhairle-----

(Interruptions).

Can we have order for Deputy Burton please? Deputy Burton is about to conclude.

In addition, there has been confirmation from the European Commission that Ireland again will record strong growth this year. These all are tangible signs of progress that will translate into new jobs for workers and into things getting that little bit easier for families who have struggled so much since Fianna Fáil's crash of 2008. This makes it all the more worrying now that the new coalition threatens to fritter away much of the progress. Labour's record in Government over the past five years is not without its blemishes. I would be the first to admit we probably ruled too much by the head and not enough by the heart at times, yet we always placed the interests of people ahead of any narrow political interests and, yes, we paid a high political price for that.

Joan of Arc. She is a saint.

However, we would do the same again because it is only when the country prospers-----

A Cheann Comhairle, time.

Can we read the Order?

-----and its people prosper that we get to anything that amounts to the vision of those who sacrificed their lives in the Rising.

Thank you very much, Deputy.

As for this coalition, effectively the agreement means the Civil War is over in political terms. However those parties have been afraid to go the whole hog. As I stated, I await the arrival of Deputy Ross and his indication of what has been agreed between the two parties.

I assume we will get the additional three minutes taken by other speakers.

You certainly will, yes.

Fine Gael need it.

I can safely say I have never seen an incoming Taoiseach look so unhappy and there is a good reason for that.

Enda, will you smile?

(Interruptions).

The Deputy is never happy.

Order, please.

It is because the Deputy who nominated the Taoiseach, one of his own party members, commended the Irish people on their patience and forbearance. There will be a collective groan in every living room in the country today. It is not personal, Taoiseach, but 75% of people did not want you returned as Taoiseach and they did not want Fine Gael in a position of power, yet that is about to happen.

We keep hearing about the dawn of a new politics. The programme for Government boasts that it will be unlike any other Government in the history of the State. We certainly can say that the traditional rules do not apply, because the two traditional parties have had to come to an arrangement. Instead of being able to field two teams, the capitalist establishment has had to field just one team. Fianna Fáil is stressing that this is not a grand coalition, but it is the first cousin of a grand coalition and it certainly looks like a grand coalition. Fianna Fáil has spurned the trappings of power on this occasion because in the run-up to the election it had to tack to the left to gain new votes, so it would not be fitting for it to go into government. If the Fianna Fáil Members think they can ride two horses in supporting the Government and leading this Opposition, they should think again.

Fianna Fáil is trying to claim credit because it supported the Government to get a deal on water charges, but it should be clear about this. The reason this was a sticking point in the formation of a Government was the mass movement that took place against water charges, and no other reason. It was not to do with Fianna Fáil. It also concerned the boycott which was maintained despite threats by the parties in government. I will raise this warning for Fianna Fáil: when this issue returns to the Dáil, which it has tried to prevent for the last two months, it could be the rock upon which it perishes. That is because it will be forced to take a position on water charges-----

-----and actually stick with its manifesto, which was to abolish them, not to put the question to a commission or suspend them. Fianna Fáil will be implicated in the policies of this Government.

For all the talk of new politics, looking through the programme for Government, it is clear that it continues the neoliberal trend we have seen in the last number of years. The first commitment it gives is to stick with the fiscal straitjacket imposed by the EU, which has led to a huge crisis in our public services, the health system and housing. By the way, there are no targets to reduce waiting lists, build social housing on a scale needed by local authorities, or any of the other issues that I am sure we will get a chance to debate soon. Neither is there any advancement in that programme of the desire for social change, particularly on key social issues such as repealing the eighth amendment of the Constitution, which is buried on page 158 of a 160-page document. It mentions setting up a citizens' convention, which is completely undemocratic and evades any responsibility. Despite all the talk of gender quotas, women are barely mentioned in the document. There is certainly no reflection of the desire for a separation of church and State, nor any reflection of the diversity that exists.

I have a question for the so-called Independents who are propping up this Government. What exactly is the point of voting for an Independent? In my opinion, most people who voted for Independents thought they were voting for people who were independent of the system and the establishment, and certainly independent of Fine Gael. Instead, however, they got people who are going in to prop up a Government either for personal advancement or for a pet project in their own area. People who voted Independent should mark this; they will have to vote left if they want real change that will challenge the establishment and the system.

Both inside and outside the Dáil, the Anti-Austerity Alliance and People Before Profit will work to advance the project of building a new party to represent workers and replace the Labour Party, which abandoned them. One need only look at events in America - not at Trump, but at the likes of Sanders - where such policies can gain huge momentum in a short time.

We need a genuine left Government which will challenge the status quo and capitalism as well as taking the vast wealth, underlined in report after report, under democratic public control and putting people's needs before profit. This is the only way we are going to be able to deal with the burning issues of our time.

Despite the high-flow rhetoric and noble aspirations articulated both by Fine Gael today and by Fianna Fáil in their confidence and supply document, there is no real sign of either the new politics or the new policies people so desperately want. There was no sign of it in the long protracted process that has led up to this day in which Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael led us on a very merry dance. It might be understandable and justifiable if there were any substantial difference in policies between them. Then people could understand if that protracted process was going to lead us to a new departure in policies or in politics.

Of course, the truth is that there is no difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. They both promoted the policies and the interests of the bankers and developers who crashed the economy in 2008. They both agreed to guarantee the losses of those banks to protect those bondholders and those private interests while unloading the cost with vicious austerity on ordinary citizens. They both slashed the social housing and health budgets, which have left us with such a devastating crisis. They both cut the jobseeker’s allowance, first, for the under-20s and then the under-26s. They both cut the payments to impoverished lone parents and child benefit. They both signed up to water charges and even now refuse to abolish them when there is a clear mandate for this House to do so. They both refuse to repeal the eighth amendment, despite the deaths and suffering of women and families affected by fatal foetal abnormalities. They both refuse to increase the tax contribution of the largest and most profitable corporations in this country.

All of this might just be seen to be in the past if the programme for Government had new policies. However, incredibly, we still have not seen this programme as it has only been leaked. We are expected to vote for a Taoiseach having not seen this document. Where is the new politics there? In the leaked documents we have seen, this is the no change programme for Government. There is no change in policy or politics.

In the key areas of social housing, what do we have? It explicitly refers to more incentives for landlords, more incentives for developers and more outsourcing to the private sector to deliver social housing. All these are precisely the policies which have led us to the crisis today. The new programme intends to accelerate them. In the area of health, there will be an accelerated move towards an even more privatised and two-tier system where health services will be outsourced to the private sector, while the entire public health service is to be marketised.

Despite all the false concern expressed by the supporters of water charges about water infrastructure, there will be no significant increase in the level of investment in it. We have had such dishonesty on this issue over the past several weeks both from politicians and the media. Let us inform the people through this House of the facts. In 2007, €900 million was spent on water and sewerage infrastructure.

When we were awash with money.

Even under the supposed Irish Water enhanced investment plan, at its height it will only reach €600 million. That is one third less than what was spent in 2007. Where is the rest of the money going? It is going into the pockets of highly paid executives, consultants and private contractors. That is the truth. It is not going into fixing the pipes or the water infrastructure but into lining the pockets of the same old gang. There is no change and no new politics.

I conclude by saying that despite all that and despite the political games, the commitment to the same failed policies, the denials by the Labour Party of its complicity in those failed policies, and the amnesia it seemed to suffer over that fact, there is great hope, because for the first time in the history of this State neither of the two parties that have dominated the politics of this State will control this Dáil fully. We saw a little sign of the impact of genuinely new politics with the effect that the mass movement against water charges has had on all of them. We still have not won, but, God, they have been forced to backtrack because of the power of ordinary people, whom those two parties, and much of the media, have vilified, disgracefully describing them in one article as being like the barbarian hordes, when in fact they are ordinary people who have been battered by unfairness, injustice and austerity for the past eight years because of the failure of the political establishment. They are close to a triumph on the issue of water charges and, as we all know, that battle was only a symptom of the much wider desire of ordinary people for fairness, equality and social solidarity. That is not something that will be delivered by this programme for Government, but it will be delivered by the movement of people power that we have seen on the streets for the past few years.

Do we have a spokesperson for Independents 4 Change?

Yes. When the non-appearance of the Independent Alliance is the most interesting development this morning, it sums up where we are at. I am hoping at this stage that they do not turn up and we have a general election, because I do not believe I can take much more of this. The air of unreality that has surrounded these proceedings is frankly shocking.

A Deputy

Hear, hear.

We have the usual empty slogans and speeches, new outfits and new hairdos, but it is a million miles away from the real lives of citizens in this State. I would be relieved if I could turn on a television or listen to the radio without having to see an Independent wheeled out to tell us that they are batting for the national interest and not themselves. That is a relief, but we must ask at what cost, because what is being put before us and the people today are the same neoliberal policies perpetuated by the previous Government and the one before it. They are packaged up with a few bows to make them appear different, but they are the same.

I want to deal with the real world by sharing an e-mail I got this week from a constituent, a woman who is known to me, in which she refers to the tragic death of her sister as a result of mortgage debt, and other cutbacks, that she experienced. As a result of pressure that the bank put on the family, the woman's relationship with her husband failed. Her sister states:

Her Mental Health suffered and she sought help from her GP. She was on medication for depression but her GP [said] this needed to be re-evaluated [so] she was put on a waiting list to see a Psychiatrist who she had attended previously. The waiting list, with the cuts to Mental Health, was 4 months and [she] still [had] no date for an appointment. She had been working [but she was unable to keep it on so she was put on disability benefit], but a letter arrived to say she had not arrived for her appointment for her review so [her] payment was suspended.

The woman went on to state:

I found that letter and all the letters from the Banks and Financial Agencies scattered around her room on the 28th of January 2015.

Today I called the coroners office to ask when the inquest into her death will be [held].

Because of the high rate of suicide they are estimating 18 months ...

That is the Ireland for which the Members opposite have been responsible. The titbits of the programme for Government we have seen are a perpetuation and continuation of that situation, one in which only 26% of the population voted for Fine Gael and the Taoiseach.

When one takes in those who did not vote, it is less than 17%. Despite this, as a result of people who claim to be independent and Fianna Fáil, the Taoiseach will get his hands back on the reins - maybe. I remind him of one thing - today is the birthday of Robespierre, the famous French revolutionary who challenged the system and fought the old order. The Taoiseach is certainly not him but I remind the Taoiseach that he ended up on the guillotine, and I think that might yet happen.

He was also responsible for the reign of terror. It was not a reign of terror.

Now more than ever and for everyone's sake we need an effective Government capable of tackling the big issues facing this country and correcting the mistakes of the past. Good government should be about creating the kind of country that ensures everyone can live life with dignity and opportunity. One cannot help thinking, on reading the new programme of partnership Government, that while well-meaning in parts, it is very long on aspiration and very short on specifics. We have seen many documents in the past which have promised much but delivered very little. Whatever about those Independents who will or will not take part in this Government, in the case of this Taoiseach and the Fine Gael Party we have no option but to judge them not on their promises for the future but on their actions of the past five years. These actions have seen huge divisions and deep social problems open up in Irish society.

We recognise that the economy is in recovery but this has been achieved at enormous cost to a great many people and has created a very divided country and a deeply fractured body politic. The Taoiseach's Government had choices about how that economic recovery would be achieved and he chose to ensure the burden of austerity would be imposed disproportionately on those who are least able to carry it. His budgets were regressive and each of them widened the gap between rich and poor. That is what he chose. Those choices have resulted in, for example, the rate of child poverty increasing to the point where one in nine children now lives in consistent poverty without adequate food, clothing or heat. His policies mean that 1,800 children are now growing up in hotel bedrooms and other emergency accommodation with more than 100,000 people on housing waiting lists and tens of thousands of other families in mortgage distress facing the loss of their homes.

Fine Gael's legacy sees half a million people on waiting lists for hospital services and many thousands more waiting for primary care services. Most concerning of all is the staggeringly high rate of mental health problems, substance misuse and suicide throughout this country. The budget choices of the last Government resulted in the burden of taxation being shifted downwards onto those who could least afford to pay and resulted in us now having the third highest cost of living in the EU along with some of the poorest public services. That in turn has greatly reduced purchasing power and has had very negative impacts on small businesses. These are all the appalling consequences of political decisions taken by the last Government. Was it any wonder the public was so incensed when Fine Gael came out with the slogan, "Keep the recovery going" and Deputy Michael Noonan tried to buy people's votes by promising a €4 billion tax giveaway? Nothing displayed more how out of touch Fine Gael was with the reality of people's lives and the condition of this country than that disgraceful election promise.

The people gave their verdict and punished Fine Gael. It is indeed a bitter irony that it may well be that same party that will lead the new Government. The arithmetic of the election result meant that the only majority Government possible was one of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. That would have been a logical development in Irish politics. For its own reasons Fianna Fáil has eschewed that option.

So it seems we are now entering uncharted waters in which the Dáil majority may actually exist on this side of the House if this arrangement goes ahead. While that creates a huge amount of uncertainty for the future - and it is clearly by no means certain to happen today - it also opens up an opportunity for us to practise politics in a very different manner. It may now be possible to ensure that the Executive is actually answerable to Parliament, which is, of course, how it should be. Ministers may have to convince the Dáil that policies or legislation are actually worthy of support. For a change, Government will have to consider and frequently accept amendments from the Opposition. Indeed, if we are not to have gridlock, the decision-making process for Cabinet and the support structure surrounding it will need to change radically to accommodate this. I sincerely hope that work is already under way to underpin this.

The new configuration, along with the welcome proposals on Dáil reform, will challenge all of us - both Government and Opposition - to rethink how we practise politics. Hopefully, there will be greater potential for us to take a more problem-solving approach to some of the big issues facing the country, to ensure there is evidence-based decision making, to have open and objective resource allocation, and to ensure all budgetary decisions are equality- and poverty-proofed. Approached in the right spirit, the new configuration can enable each Member of the House to play a full and effective role on behalf of the people who elected us.

We must now, at last, get serious about political reform - not just Dáil reform, but political reform. That means ensuring that openness and accountability become the hallmark of how public life operates. It means, for example, full and honest answers to parliamentary questions. It means ending cronyism. It means sidelining vested interests, reforming the Civil Service and reforming the relationship between senior civil servants and Ministers. Most of all, it means having an effective way of dealing with wrongdoing, white-collar crime and corruption, whether that is in politics, public life or business. We cannot have accountability unless there are consequences for those involved in wrongdoing, and too often there have been no consequences for such people. Tribunals have clearly failed. Commissions of inquiry are highly unsatisfactory. A Dáil investigation committee will not have sufficient powers. That is why the Social Democrats propose an independent anti-corruption agency with powers to investigate and, critically, to prosecute. We hope the Dáil will give positive consideration to this proposal.

There has been precious little evidence of new politics in recent years. Too often, information has to be dragged out of Ministers, senior figures refuse to take responsibility for mistakes, and reports are kept under wraps. This must change. For our part, the Social Democrats will play an active and constructive role in the new Dáil. We will support the Government when we believe it is acting in the public interest and oppose it when it is not. It is our intention to work collaboratively with any party or any Independents in the furtherance of progressive politics. There is an onus on all of us to co-operate in working to achieve greater prosperity, opportunity, equality and accountability in Irish society. Irrespective of the Government that emerges or does not emerge today, we must all rise to that challenge.

The Green Party entered talks with Fine Gael and the Independents who may or may not arrive here today. I am not breaking confidence, I am sure, when I recall that after those approximate two and a half days, when the Taoiseach asked us if we would be willing to support or take part in such a Government, we clearly said "No". We indicated that we did not share the ambition set out in the partnership Government draft programme document before us today, which has not changed that significantly in the interim.

We can consider some of the key elements in that. We need to build 25,000 houses and there is a consensus in this House around that. We argue that we must go further and think about where we will build them, the quality of the houses and their price. We need to get that right and not just the numbers. We must also ensure that we get transport right, that we plan the development of our State and that we do not get involved in the old numbers game. We have seen the risks or dangers it brought in the past and we must think in a more long-term and sustainable way in the context of planning. The document sets out that we need X numbers of jobs, which is a numbers approach, but we must be more strategic and ambitious so as to see the opportunities in digital and green industries. Ultimately, we need a strategic approach so we can be less reliant on foreign direct investment and more able to live by our own enterprise.

The Taoiseach may recall that I said we would not join the Government because we come from a left-of-centre perspective and we did not see that reflected in the document. The document still has an allocation to tax cuts at a time when we have funding requirements in health and education that should be given precedence. For that reason, we cannot support the proposed Government. In the intervening four or five weeks since that time, there have not been major changes here. What changes there have been have disheartened us immensely. The way the water issue was managed has let down the plain people of Ireland. There is widespread dissatisfaction with the way that was managed in subsequent weeks and we will seek a different approach in the next year if possible and if a Government is formed.

There is widespread dissatisfaction - to my mind - that we are debating the possible election of a Taoiseach. It seems, from online and social media, that certain people are engaged in a slightly different turf war. Is it possible this Parliament will not be able to elect a Government because we cannot accept European directives on how we manage our natural resources? I am reluctant to take a high-and-mighty position in this regard and the other day Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I had different views about the climate change issue. If the Deputy does not believe it, in some ways one could accept that because he has a completely different world view to me. In fact, he sees a different world to the one I see. I am concerned that every other party or Deputy in this House accepts some of the scientific truth but none of the responsibility for action that comes with it. In some ways, that is worse. To be honest, I see nothing in the manifestos or talks to suggest that any other party or group on this side of the House has looked at that turf war and come out with anything but a short-term consideration that for certain sectional votes, they would not pursue what is the right path. There is no particular alternative which strikes us that we can vote for today. Where is the alternative Government? Is the alternative that we go to the people on the issues of protecting our natural resources and climate? It seems to be the question before us at this hour.

We will hold our vote, as we have done on previous occasions, to elect a Taoiseach. We will hold our vote as we hoped and still hope that there may be a possibility in this Parliament to do politics in a slightly different way, to be slightly less adversarial and to strengthen the role of the Opposition. We will take a strong role in criticising the Government at every turn and opposing as best we can but also proposing when the occasion arises. We will take up the offer contained in this document and that coming from the Dáil reform committee.

We are due to see our paper published on Monday and we have that opportunity before us. It is for that reason alone that we would hold our vote - to say it may be possible. We are not all going to turn into Swedes or Scandinavians overnight, but we know that is not just new politics, it is better politics. It is a type of politics that we all know. Everyone who is involved in a voluntary committee across this country knows how to make that politics work, where one works with people. Most of us here have worked on county councils over the years. Who would deny that politics works on councils across the country, where we have coalition arrangements right across the political spectrum? The Green Party works with Sinn Féin in Dublin City Council, with Fine Gael in Dún Laoghaire and with others in Louth. The Green Party works in that way. We all do. Why, if we know that politics can work there, can we not try to make it work here? It does on occasion. We know sometimes that is the flash of our better nature in this Chamber. Why not give it a go if we manage to survive until 1.30 p.m.?

I am sharing time with Deputy Catherine Connolly. This Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and possibly Independent programme for Government is framed in the context of and is based on "our commitment to meeting in full the domestic and EU Fiscal rules".

Order, please. There is a Deputy on his feet and he deserves the respect of silence.

I will say that again. This programme is based, as it says in the document, "on our commitment to meeting in full the domestic and EU Fiscal rules". The programme for Government is, therefore, based on the fiscal treaty, which totally concedes Irish sovereignty over vital national affairs and flies in the face of the 1916 Proclamation in its centenary year.

This programme for Government continues the failed policies of the previous Fine Gael-Labour Government and, indeed, the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Government in the new Dáil. It means a continuation of austerity, it means agreeing to continue to send €7 billion in interest repayments out of this country every year to pay off bondholders and banks and it means continued cuts in order to meet the structural deficit under the fiscal treaty and to meet the new debt-to-GDP ratio of less than 60%. It also means continuing the scandal of the lowest 10% of earners in our society paying a higher percentage of their income in tax than the wealthiest 10%. That is an absolute scandal and it is continued in this programme for Government. It means continued austerity for low and middle-income families but, conversely, it means continued recovery for the rich and powerful, the same people who now have assets worth €45 billion in excess of their value during the peak boom period. It means recovery for the 300 very wealthy people who increased their wealth from €50 billion in 2011 to €84 billion this year.

As a consequence of all that, there is not sufficient funding to seriously tackle the housing crisis, nor is there sufficient funding to tackle the health and hospital chaos and all the other areas in respect of which there is significant pressure. Worse still, the Department of Finance and the Central Bank have warned about the possibility of external shocks. That might mean an end to or a reduction in growth. If that happened, this programme for Government would lead to new, increased and worse cuts. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independents are sleepwalking the Irish people into supporting a deal and a fiscal treaty that is absolutely dangerous.

However meritorious individual concessions may be, they pale into insignificance in comparison to the continuing economic and social damage done by the last two Governments - and by this future Government - in complying with the fiscal treaty. I believe this treaty must be renegotiated. It has an absolute stranglehold on every family in the State. Under the deal, the new Government would come into the House to certify that a financial emergency continues to exist. This will enable the Government to confiscate private property; the private property of the little people - people who have made contributions to pensions to provide for their retirement. The very same Government is refusing to certify that a housing emergency exists in case that upsets the vulture funds and the big landlords. Therefore it is not surprising the deal does not commit to an emergency housing situation and the halting of evictions. This deal also continues the situation whereby families are being evicted by this Government and the banks it owns. That process will continue under this Government. It is a scandal and it must be stopped. It only requires the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance to instruct the banks, which are owned by the Irish people, to stop the evictions. No legislation would be necessary. The incoming Government should and must do that immediately or it will not just be Fine Gael, but also Fianna Fáil and the supporting Independents who will be blamed for every eviction, and rightly so.

I conclude by referring to a very well-attended meeting in Portlaoise last Saturday where families who are threatened with eviction gave the Government six weeks to stop evictions and to put a moratorium on evictions. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents should take stock of that situation and stop these evictions once and for all.

Faraor géar, ní bheidh mé in ann vóta a chaitheamh ar son an Teachta Enda Kenny inniu, ach guím gach rath air agus é ag fanacht ar an seisear atá fós ar iarraidh. Tá siad áit éigin san fhoirgneamh. Tá mé cinnte go mbeidh toghchán againn uair éigin, má tá sé de mhuinín acu teacht isteach sa Seomra álainn seo. Unfortunately I will not be voting for Deputy Enda Kenny today but I wish him the best of luck in the election that will take place at some stage, I am sure, when the Independents come in to the House - the Independents who are negotiating in the national interest, I imagine, outside the door. In the guise of new politics we are now sitting here waiting for an election with a programme for a Government that we do not have - presumably it is not even complete - while the Independents wrestle with their consciences outside. It is a cause of great disappointment to me that we are here 70 days after an election. The 70 days have really been used to allow both big parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, enough time for the figleaf to grow to hide the nakedness of their ambitions. This climate is not known to be conducive to the growth of figs and perhaps that is one of the reasons why it has taken so long. Clearly the fig leaf is to hide their nakedness. Fine Gael was rejected by the population but wants to stay in power at all costs and has come some way to changing its neo-liberal agenda. Fianna Fáil wants it every way; it wants to be in power and out of power at the same time and has negotiated that deal. If we on the left had behaved in this manner and if we had 93 votes we would have been absolutely vilified in the press and by the people for not forming a Government within the last 70 days.

From the little bit that I have seen on social media and from the documentation that we have been able to get, we see there are a number of good things in that document, such as the Minister for rural affairs, a commitment to reducing class sizes, a commitment to bringing back career guidance teachers, etc. While there are many good ideas, there is overall an utter failure to deal with the crisis in our society which is a result of relying on the free market. There is an utter failure to realise that the continued reliance on the free market is going to undo the economy and cost us more money in the long term.

We have utterly failed to recognise that there is a national emergency in housing and that this is a result of pandering to the free market. There is an utter failure to realise that the health system is at creaking point and that a heartbeat down in Waterford is as important as a heartbeat in the west of Ireland or in Galway city. What we want from the Independents is pressure put on the Government to deliver a one-tier health system and not deals for individual constituencies.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

There is an utter failure to recognise the sources of poverty. I am reading aghast, and I hope I am incorrect, that we are looking at the role of the Defence Forces in providing skills to help people out of poverty. There is an utter failure to look at any of the reports produced by Government and non-government bodies about the sources of poverty, including lack of income and lack of access to housing and public health services. Surely if we have learned anything, it is that there are solutions. I am sick and tired of being told by my colleagues here to my left that we Independents have done nothing. We have come in every day to this Dáil. We have researched, spoken and suggested solutions. If we had the votes, we would happily take power. In the meantime, we will use our voices to point out that there are solutions that they are not taking and that the solutions they are adopting will cost us money in the long run and will not lead to an equal society which, in the long term, would be a much better economy.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht bhur fhoighne. Tá súil agam, as seo amach, go mbeidh i bhfad níos mó Gaeilge á húsáid sa Seomra agus go mbeidh toghchán againn uair éigin nuair a thagann na fir ar ais.

We will now proceed to a 30-minute period for other contributions. I already have six Deputies offering so I ask them to be as brief as possible.

I think we should vote now.

The first speaker is Deputy Willie O'Dea.

I asked to be next.

Deputy O'Dea is not speaking now. I call Deputy Mary Lou McDonald.

I am assuming this is the sole occasion on which Deputy O'Dea will give way for me to speak.

That is the new arrangement.

It depends on what Deputy McDonald has to say.

It is a new politics.

We are 70 days on, a Cheann Comhairle, and we are still waiting. Waiting for Godot, although this is not so much Beckett as Flann O'Brien in the qualities of its absurdity. What do we know? We know that those in Fianna Fáil, despite all their protestations to the contrary, are prepared to put Fine Gael and Deputy Enda Kenny back into Government. We know of their absolute cynicism in this regard, but we also know now of their utter ineptitude. Not alone are they prepared to reinstate Fine Gael, but the price that they exacted for that was incredibly low. They leave us with Irish Water intact, charges merely suspended, no new initiative on housing - no new money for that worthy social need - and a health service in a shambles. I could go on but I will not, because I do not have the time to do so. It seems also that Independents are not really always as independent as they may seem. Here we are, within minutes of a vote for the highest office in the land, yet we are still gripped by a sense of uncertainty.

I have to tell the Taoiseach that we also know that whenever the issue is resolved and whenever the men march in and put him back into office, we will have a Government that simply pays lip service to fairness. In fact, it will be a Government for which "fair" is truly a four-letter word. We want the Taoiseach to know, and we want Fianna Fáil to know also, that on the Opposition benches we have a wide and diverse group of Deputies. Sinn Féin is the lead party of opposition in this Dáil.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

Who are you trying to convince? Yourselves?

Sinn Féin will provide constructive and robust opposition to Deputy Kenny and his Government, if instated. We want him to know that we will be here on behalf of all those who rely on good Government and good decisions and who rely on change. The people really need fairness, and they understand what that word means because they have experienced so much unfairness, exclusion and injustice.

We are putting Deputy Kenny on notice that if he attempts to inflict more hardship on those families and communities, then he will have us to answer to. He may have created a soft opposition in Fianna Fáil but we want him to know that there is no soft opposition from the benches of Sinn Féin.

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate, a Cheann Comhairle. As the House is aware, I worked with Deputy Enda Kenny in the most difficult of times and circumstances for our country during the past five years. I know him to be intrinsically decent and incredibly hard-working. Despite some of the comments made by other Deputies, I believe that history will treat the Government that he led during the past five years kindly.

At the outset of this Dáil, the Labour Party set out two criteria on which we would cast our votes for Taoiseach. One was the content of any formal programme for Government proposed and its compatibility with the principles of the Labour Party. The second was the viability of the Government proposed and its capacity to deal with the issues that the country faces now and in future.

In the case of the programme for Government, when a senior Minister who is negotiating the programme for Government states nationally that a policy is not in the public interest and yet it is to be implemented, then new ground has been broken. Never in my time in the House has a government been formed on that basis. If the public interest is not the fundamental and overarching basis for all actions of a Government, then it cannot and does not deserve the support of this House. Policy has to be implemented in the public interest, that is, all the public's interest. National policy on health, education, justice or any other area has to be objectively determined by what is right and not by what is expedient.

Reform has been the hallmark of the past five years, with a bespoke Department with responsibility for reform. Let us consider one issue, the issue of justice - although we could take any. We have a new Garda authority now. We have two published reform plans that are root-and-branch analyses of how proper 21st century policing is to be determined. There should be some objective criterion that determines the number of gardaí rather than simply picking a number, to which I could add 1,000 while another Deputy raises me 1,000. There should be some objective criterion that determines the location of Garda stations or how resources are allocated. That is new politics but that is not what we have. We must have some objectivity in respect of how health policy, education policy, transport policy or any other policy is determined with the interests of every citizen at the core of it.

The second criterion was the stability and viability of any proposed Government. We need look no further than the seats beside me to answer that question. We are likely to see a minority government dependent on Fianna Fáil with an array of Independent Deputies, whose number we do not yet know some 22 minutes before we cast our votes.

Government must be based on a common set of principles that are hammered out. I have always understood that. More fundamentally - I have been privileged to serve in three Governments - it must be based on trust.

Does trust exist? That is the question everybody in this Chamber has to answer. Does trust exist in the arrangement now before this House? Will it be fit and able to face the issues which we will face as a country, ones that we know will arise and ones that may arise: Brexit, which will be seismic in its impact here; the future of the European Union, with new borders going up because of the migrant crisis; public sector pay policy; housing; homelessness; and health? All these things will need a united, focused and determined Government, not one which is intrinsically unstable and by definition temporary in nature.

My party, as many Members of this House are happy to acknowledge, suffered a very poor general election. The traditional view, one that I shared in the immediate aftermath of that election, is that we needed the time to recover before we faced another general election. Sometimes, however, there are worse things than a general election. Bluntly, trusting the future of our country to the sand on which the proposed arrangement for a new Government is presented to us is one of those issues and I for one have come to the view that a general election is preferable.

It is very difficult for people to go through this draft document that was leaked, rather than see what is being proposed in reality for this new arrangement with Deputy Kenny proposed as Taoiseach. One thing is for sure: there is no new politics going on here. In fact, it is the same old failed policies of the previous Government. However, what is interesting about the arrangement is that for the first time in the history of the State we see the two biggest parties helping each other to put forward an image that, on the one hand, Fine Gael can govern and on the other hand, Fianna Fáil can prop it up and at the same time be the leader in opposition to it. This is amazingly choreographed, even down to the phrase that they will have an open approach to avoid policy surprises. What does that mean? It is a polite way of saying that they will choreograph Dáil debates between them so that they can keep up the pretence that one crowd rules and the other crowd is in opposition. It is a very interesting arrangement we will see played out. The devil will be in the detail of the policies that will be put before us by the so-called new programme for Government.

I tried my best to look through the leaked document, not the completed one, and some of the things that spring out at me are very serious indeed. Leaving aside what has been said about social housing, one simple issue is how this programme will deal with children. My secretary was for much of her life a lone parent. She now has a job. She led an organisation called Single Parents Acting for the Rights of Kids, SPARK. She is utterly ashamed of, and disgusted with, Fianna Fáil today because it pretended to support SPARK when it was in opposition and is now backing up a situation which, according to the document, will reform the monitoring of child benefit payment by amalgamating the two existing school attendance monetary systems run by the Department of Education and Skills and the National Education Welfare Board to address poor attendances with some families. This sounds like linking child benefit payment to school attendance. My only answer to that is: Donald Trump, move over. That is outrageously right wing. If those who are sitting to my left, pretending to support lone parents when they suffered severe cuts under those over there, are seriously propping that up then we know where we are headed. There is very little difference between the policies of these two parties and they have consistently failed during the past ten weeks to illustrate what the differences are between them. Under previous regimes Fianna Fáil cut child benefit by €16 per month and Fine Gael cut it by €19 per month. That is a €3 difference between them.

Fianna Fáil cut social welfare payments for people under 20 years of age to €100 per week and Fine Gael cut social welfare payments for people under 24 years of age to €100 per week. Both parties voted for the bank guarantee, which has cost the State €65 billion so far. Both of them cut discretionary medical cards, Fianna Fáil for pensioners and Fine Gael for everybody else. There is so little difference between them it would make one weep. Both supported a 14-year jail sentence for women who procure abortion pills.

We must start by asking ourselves what we face. I will outline a number of the issues. The document refers to public sector workers. The workers who work in this House and elsewhere in the Civil Service and the public sector should take note that it talks about the gradual reform of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest, FEMPI, Acts. Trade union conferences due to be held in the next few weeks will propose the abolition of the FEMPI legislation, which was introduced as a major tactic to help bail out the banks, cut the pay of low-paid public sector workers and introduce the pension-related deduction. The parties talk about phasing that out up to 2020. In the meantime, they expect workers who are living on extraordinarily low pay despite a high cost of living, particularly in the cities where rents are soaring and where it is nearly impossible to buy a home on such wages, to say they will stand back and not play any role in the future. In addition, they are offering to increase the minimum wage from €9.15 to €10.50 per hour by 2020. In other words, they will give the most impoverished workers in the country an extra 27 cent per hour on which to live.

This will not happen in a vacuum; it will happen during very exciting times in this House. It will also happen with the focus on the people who have almost won in respect of water charges and on the great unwashed who are out protesting and standing up to the Government. They will do the same, given their increasing confidence, and fight the Government on housing, health and so forth. The darkest hour is often before the dawn. With the combined right-wing shape of the House, we are seeing a resurgence in the confidence of ordinary people. When that resurgence meets with the draconian measures and lack of real change under this programme, we will be in for very interesting times. We will put ourselves firmly and squarely on the side of those who fight for real change rather than the same old policies which are choreographed by two groups of people who could be looking into a mirror given that there is so little difference between them.

The leaked document which we have all seen is proof, as if we needed it, that some people will do and say anything to hang on to power. It is nothing short of shameful. I proudly represented workers in the public service for many years, under both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and they will not be impressed by a single word in this document. The Government appears to have shifted from keeping the so-called recovery going to moving towards a fairer Ireland. I doubt that the Government would recognise a fairer Ireland even if it met it on the road, with two pints in its hands and saying "Hello".

I note that there is no mention of workers or workers' rights in the document. I am not surprised, but workers should be made aware of it. The health care section mentions funding and MBAs for senior managers. Recruitment is listed under "ambitions". There is no plan for recruitment or to attract doctors and nurses back into the health service. Furthermore, there is no mention of the people who clean our hospitals, keep them secure and feed patients. I can only assume from that glaring omission that they do not feature in the Government's plans at all.

We on these benches and the people outside know what the Government has planned for those people is nothing less than outsourcing. They will know that. They will see that. They are not mentioned in the document. We know what the Government wants to do with them and we will fight hard and oppose it tooth and nail when the Government tries to outsource aspects of the health service.

In some respects this programme for Government talks the talk. It looks well, it reads well, but it will ultimately let people down. There is no new politics and no new thinking. This is nothing but cowardice and a shameless and shameful grab for power.

It is fair to say that the previous Government did get some things right in a difficult environment-----

-----but it also got many things wrong. After five years in here trying to change some of the things I and the Social Democrats believe they got wrong, my conclusion is that at the heart of the errors the previous Government made was a failure of ideology. Allowing a republic where one child in nine lives in daily poverty to continue is not a failure of policy, it is a failure of ideology. Designing and implementing five regressive budgets in a row that asked those who had the least to bear the greatest burden was a choice. It was a very damaging choice and it was a failure of ideology. Selling more than 13,000 family mortgages from IBRC to vulture funds, many of whom are now having to deal with those vulture funds who are making very serious profits, rather than facilitating the families when every other situation had to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis was a failure of ideology.

Campaigning to cut taxes at a time when parents are putting their children to sleep in the back of cars is a failure of ideology. That failure of ideology continues through to the leaked document we saw outlining tax cuts to investment ratios of 1:2. The previous Government, Fine Gael in particular, campaigned on a slogan that we have to make work pay. It is one of the three pillars of its 130-page manifesto, Making Work Pay. The ideology says that if one taxes people for working, one is disincentivising them from working so they will not work and one has to make it pay for them to work. However, objective, impartial analysis from the OECD says that Ireland has between the lowest and the fourth lowest tax wedge, tax on work, in the OECD, depending on what type of family one is in. The Government that is coming in now is backed up by a document whereby it is going to continue with tax cuts to make work pay, because presumably work does not pay. At a time when one in nine children are living in poverty and we are dealing with a homelessness crisis, when there are not enough gardaí on the streets, it is not just a failure of policy, it is an absolute failure of ideology.

The Social Democrats – I am sure with many others here – would love to be in government. We would love to be driving policy but we do not see evidence that the ideology has changed. As other Members have referenced before, there are some welcome phrases that it is hoped will be followed through in this coming Dáil, but what we do not see is a change in the ideology that has led to an awful lot of very bad things happening to a lot of vulnerable people in this country in the past five years.

I hope we are at a time where we can start rebuilding society. If we are to rebuild a republic that genuinely provides every single man, woman and child with dignity and opportunity, then we need to do it with a different ideology based on values of dignity, genuine equality and democracy.

Consequently, for this reason and many others, we in the Social Democrats do not believe the ideological basis of what Members are about to see will be good for this country and for that reason, we will vote against this Government.

Members had hoped that after three failed attempts to elect Deputy Enda Kenny as Taoiseach and after 70 days and long hours of talks and negotiations between all the parties that will be part of the Government, the farce would come to an end. However, it has not come to an end. The Minister of State, Deputy Harris, spoke earlier about a partnership Government but where is the partnership? One arm of the Government, namely, Fianna Fáil, claims not to be in government at all. It claims to be in opposition but also supports this partnership Government. The Independent Alliance has just arrived into the Chamber, having kept Members waiting, and the farce has continued right up to the 11th hour. I wonder what people outside the Chamber think about all this. I often hear people state this place is a bubble and that those who occupy the seats, especially on the Government side, live in a bubble and do not understand what it is like for people outside the Chamber and it is hard to argue against that. I wonder what the people lying on hospital trolleys across the State as I speak think of this ongoing farce. I wonder what parents of children with disabilities who cannot get the resources and supports they require for their children think of this farce. The Taoiseach claims to have met a number of homeless people and I wonder what they would think of this farce. What of all those families who are living in front rooms or are in emergency accommodation? I wonder what they think of this farce.

I have read the document that has been published and agreed on by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and some Independents who have changed their stripes and have changed from being opposed to the policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to now propping up the Government. One thing is certain which is that it is a recipe for more of the same and for keeping things as they are. It will keep in place the two-tier unfair health service, the housing crisis will continue, there is nothing for workers' rights and people will still live in poverty. What does the Taoiseach say to those people who want real change? Deputy Micheál Martin stated earlier that Sinn Féin had a chance to support him as Taoiseach. That is not a choice because Fianna Fáil is not up for change. When one sees that party's fingerprints all over these documents, it is quite clear it has signed up to a conservative Government with Fine Gael and is not interested in change. We in Sinn Féin want to build a real alternative. We will lead the Opposition and Fianna Fáil members can get it out of their heads that they are now an Opposition party. The lead party of opposition will be Sinn Féin.

We will be a strong and a fair Opposition and will provide robust opposition, but we also will be constructive.

That would be a first.

In the context of the new dispensation Deputy Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach and others state exists, they must also do business with Sinn Féin. When Sinn Féin brings forward proposals, which we will as we have many ideas and solutions, there will also be an onus and a responsibility on the Taoiseach and those who are part of this new arrangement to work with us. We are up for that challenge but sadly, when I consider what has been agreed, I must be honest with those outside this Chamber who are in dire straits and are seeking change and state they will not get it from this conservative arrangement of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents who have changed their colours and their stripes because they wish to get into power.

As no other Deputy is offering at this point, in accordance with the Order of the Dáil I am required to put the question.

Cuireadh an cheist: "Go n-ainmneoidh Dáil Éireann an Teachta Enda Kenny chun a cheaptha ag an Uachtarán mar Thaoiseach."
Question put: “That Dáil Éireann nominate Deputy Enda Kenny for appointment by the President to be Taoiseach.”
The Dáil divided: Tá, 59; Níl, 49.

  • Bailey, Maria.
  • Barrett, Seán.
  • Breen, Pat.
  • Brophy, Colm.
  • Bruton, Richard.
  • Burke, Peter.
  • Byrne, Catherine.
  • Canney, Seán.
  • Cannon, Ciarán.
  • Carey, Joe.
  • Corcoran Kennedy, Marcella.
  • Coveney, Simon.
  • Creed, Michael.
  • Daly, Jim.
  • D'Arcy, Michael.
  • Deasy, John.
  • Deering, Pat.
  • Doherty, Regina.
  • Donohoe, Paschal.
  • Doyle, Andrew.
  • Durkan, Bernard J.
  • English, Damien.
  • Farrell, Alan.
  • Fitzgerald, Frances.
  • Fitzpatrick, Peter.
  • Flanagan, Charles.
  • Griffin, Brendan.
  • Halligan, John.
  • Harris, Simon.
  • Harty, Michael.
  • Heydon, Martin.
  • Humphreys, Heather.
  • Kehoe, Paul.
  • Kenny, Enda.
  • Kyne, Seán.
  • Lowry, Michael.
  • McEntee, Helen.
  • McGrath, Finian.
  • McHugh, Joe.
  • McLoughlin, Tony.
  • Madigan, Josepha.
  • Mitchell O'Connor, Mary.
  • Moran, Kevin Boxer.
  • Murphy, Dara.
  • Murphy, Eoghan.
  • Naughten, Denis.
  • Naughton, Hildegarde.
  • Neville, Tom.
  • Noonan, Michael.
  • O'Connell, Kate.
  • O'Donovan, Patrick.
  • O'Dowd, Fergus.
  • Phelan, John Paul.
  • Ring, Michael.
  • Rock, Noel.
  • Ross, Shane.
  • Stanton, David.
  • Varadkar, Leo.
  • Zappone, Katherine.

Níl

  • Adams, Gerry.
  • Barry, Mick.
  • Boyd Barrett, Richard.
  • Brady, John.
  • Broughan, Thomas P.
  • Buckley, Pat.
  • Burton, Joan.
  • Collins, Joan.
  • Collins, Michael.
  • Connolly, Catherine.
  • Coppinger, Ruth.
  • Crowe, Seán.
  • Cullinane, David.
  • Daly, Clare.
  • Doherty, Pearse.
  • Donnelly, Stephen S.
  • Ellis, Dessie.
  • Ferris, Martin.
  • Funchion, Kathleen.
  • Healy, Seamus.
  • Healy-Rae, Danny.
  • Howlin, Brendan.
  • Kelly, Alan.
  • Kenny, Gino.
  • Kenny, Martin.
  • McDonald, Mary Lou.
  • McGrath, Mattie.
  • Mitchell, Denise.
  • Munster, Imelda.
  • Murphy, Catherine.
  • Murphy, Paul.
  • Nolan, Carol.
  • Ó Broin, Eoin.
  • Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
  • Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
  • Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
  • O'Brien, Jonathan.
  • O'Reilly, Louise.
  • O'Sullivan, Jan.
  • Penrose, Willie.
  • Pringle, Thomas.
  • Quinlivan, Maurice.
  • Ryan, Brendan.
  • Sherlock, Sean.
  • Shortall, Róisín.
  • Smith, Bríd.
  • Stanley, Brian.
  • Tóibín, Peadar.
  • Wallace, Mick.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Joe Carey and Paul Kehoe; Níl, Deputies Mick Barry and Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
Question declared carried.
Faisnéiseadh go rabhthas tar éis glacadh leis an gceist.

A Thaoiseach, ar mhaith leat rud a rá ag an bpointe seo?

Ba mhaith liom ar dtús mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le chuile Theachta a thug vóta dom sa toghchán seo. Ba mhaith liom freisin mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leo siúd nár ghlac lena gcuid vótaí a chaitheamh chun mé a thoghadh mar Thaoiseach. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Rock agus an Teachta Ní Bhroin as ucht moladh a thabhairt dom.

I am grateful for the trust the Thirty-second Dáil has placed in me to lead the new Government as the country leads a new century. The circumstances of today are very different from those of five years ago when Ireland was in deep crisis and when our very survival as an independent country was in doubt. I promised at that stage that the new Fine Gael and Labour Party Government would work night and day to rescue the economy, fix the public finances and get the people back to work. I pay tribute, in particular, to the members of that Government from the Labour Party - those who are present - for their work during that period and who will be stepping down shortly from their ministerial offices. They know what it means to act in the national interest come what may. They know what it means to have to make difficult decisions and stand over them and to place the needs of the country and the people above all else. I thank them for their service and support and wish them well for the future.

While I contend that we fulfilled our core mandate to move the country back from the edge of an economic cliff, I acknowledge and understand very many people have not felt the benefit of a recovering economy in their daily lives.

While five years on Ireland is a better place and a safer place, we face many serious challenges that we know of both home and abroad. If economic survival was the urgent priority of the previous Government, using a strong economy to improve the quality of the lives of our people must and will be the priority of the new Government. That fundamental principle will be the bedrock of our policy programme.

Therefore, the Government that I will lead in the very different circumstances of the Thirty-second Dáil will be a very different kind of administration formed in very different and almost unprecedented circumstances. The verdict of the people in the recent general election means that no party or group has any mandate to instruct, force, direct or coerce anybody to do anything they do not want to do. Therefore we must all work together in the best interests of all our people.

It has always been the case that under Bunreacht na hÉireann the Taoiseach and the Government of the day are responsible to Dáil Éireann. That will never be truer than in respect of this Thirty-second Dáil, a Cheann Comhairle, over which you preside, in terms of the reform of this Chamber. The engagements that have taken place over the past ten weeks between parties, between groups and their affiliates, and between the Fine Gael Party and the Fianna Fáil Party have demonstrated that a very significant number of Deputies in the House are willing to try to make the current political configuration work in the interests of our people and the country.

In that same spirit, I commit myself and the incoming Government to work in partnership with the elected Members of this House to devise and implement solutions to the many problems facing our people. I take on board the constructive comments from the many comments made by Members from the benches opposite earlier today. I will energetically oversee and implement the programme for Government I have agreed with the Deputies and groups that are part of the new Administration. I will play an active role in implementing comprehensive reform of the Oireachtas, both Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, and in so doing I will discharge my responsibilities as Taoiseach to the very best of my ability as I have always sought to do. However, those responsibilities will be shared by every Member of Dáil Éireann in a way that they have never had to be shared before. Everyone will have an opportunity to play a constructive role as we work in partnership together to build a better Ireland. It will be a great test of our democracy, of our character and of this House - a test, I am convinced, we will pass.

This Government has much to do. Our country faces many challenges. That was the message the people gave in the election and was the message that has been repeated by so many Deputies present on so many occasions. The new Government has listened to that message and we will act on that message in an attempt to redress many of the difficult challenges people face every day. This programme sets out a vision for a more caring, more prosperous and fairer Ireland. At the heart of that programme for Government is a belief in the enormous potential of our people and our country. That potential lies within every citizen whatever their age and wherever they live. The new Government will be driven by a firm belief that good politics can help realise all of that potential in the interests of all our people throughout the country.

I have been here for many years, as the Ceann Comhairle knows. I have seen things that people once thought were impossible come to pass and become commonplace. I have seen days in this Chamber filled with hope and indeed days that were seared with despair. There have been years of difficulty, years of bloodshed and, thankfully, years of precious peace. The greatest challenges have been met and the widest of chasms have been bridged. Recent years saw sovereignty lost and then our sovereignty regained. The commemoration of the centenary of the Easter Rising has given all of us a moment to reflect with pride on the achievements of those who went before us and the achievements of our independence.

As servants of our democracy, whether in the Government or the Opposition, we now have a new opportunity to help write the next chapter of the unfolding story of our country. In doing so, we draw inspiration from that heroic generation that gained Ireland her freedom. Like them, we should never forget the hard-earned lessons of history and, like them, we should never set limits to our ambitions for our people or for the country.

It is my great honour to accept the nomination of Dáil Éireann for the position of Taoiseach. I now have a duty to go to the President to inform him of my nomination in order that he may appoint me as Taoiseach. Accordingly, I suggest that the House be suspended for three hours before we resume to deal with the nomination of members of the Government.

Sitting suspended at 2.30 p.m. and resumed at 5.30 p.m.
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