I do not think it would be proper for me to make any comment upon the personnel of the Government chosen by the Taoiseach. We realise that the Government which has to face the conditions prevailing at the moment will have before it a very serious and difficult task. The responsibility for carrying out those tasks rests primarily upon the Taoiseach and it is his responsibility to choose those members who, he thinks, will most effectively support him in the carrying out of those very difficult and trying tasks. It is his responsibility and if he fails it will be his loss.
I have said we realise that the Government faces very serious economic, financial and political difficulties. We realise also that on us in Opposition here—and I speak on behalf of the Fine Gael Party—there rests a very high duty and serious responsibility. I have stated again and again in the course of election speeches that when we are fighting the democratic battle of elections to Dáil Éireann we are not playing a political game; we are engaged in a very high and responsible purpose. I hope that the Fine Gael Party in this Dáil will discharge that high and grave responsibility with due regard for the national interests.
It would certainly be our aim, so far as we can, to be a constructive Opposition, and not to indulge merely in recriminations or bickerings. We have every reason to know the kind of tasks and problems that face the present Government. We went through a period of stress and strain during the last 12 months. We believe that we have made a helpful contribution to the solution of those difficulties which began over 12 months ago. We believe that when we announced our policy for production on October 5th last we had given a headline, that we had set ourselves tasks which would result in making at least some considerable inroads on the problems of unemployment and emigration and the other social problems that afflict the country.
We hope that those policies in which we have faith and which we had hoped to carry to fruition will be adopted by the present Government, and in the adoption and carrying out of those policies, if they see fit to adopt them, they will get every support from this side of the House and certainly from the Fine Gael Party. We were anxious to know the personnel of the Government, and, when listening to the Taoiseach state the names of the members of the Government and the Departments to which they were assigned, we sought eagerly for some clue as to what I might call the most jealously guarded political secret of modern times here in Ireland—the policy of the Fianna Fáil Government. Looking at the list of names, I am afraid I have not been able to get any clue as to what that policy is. We must only hope for the best. The personnel or even the assignment of Departments amongst the personnel of the Government does not disclose any indication of whether we are to have a policy of restriction or a policy of expansion. However, I think we can claim to have left behind us a basis on which a policy of expansion can be put into operation for the benefit of the country as a whole.
I do not intend to make this an opportunity for any extenuation or explanation of the work done by my colleagues and myself in the last Government. We leave that, with full confidence, to history. However, I assert that we tackled a job of great difficulty and complexity which required courage of the highest order.
We took our decisions in disregard of our own political fortunes. I think we can claim to have left behind us a solid contribution to some of the difficulties that have confronted and that still confront the country. Undoubtedly, there are still problems of unemployment, problems of emigration, social problems and political problems as well as budgetary problems of great difficulty. I think I can promise the present Government, on behalf of my colleagues in the Fine Gael Party, that we will do our part to help them to solve these difficult problems and to give them constructive opposition to the best of our ability. We know the difficulties that will face this Government. We hope we will be able to override our human frailties and our political frailties, if you like, and forget that we did not get the co-operation to which we were entitled from the Opposition in the last Dáil and which we will give to this Government in this Dáil. I have just indicated that there are grave difficulties of unemployment and emigration, as well as budgetary difficulties and financial difficulties of one kind or another. However, there are even more serious difficulties than these, serious and all as they are. In this Dáil, we are facing a somewhat unprecedented position. A number of people have been elected to sit in Dáil Éireann but refuse to take their places in this institution and not merely refuse to take their places here but deny the validity of the institutions of this State which have been set up over the last number of years. That is a very serious situation in which all Parties in this House, whether they sit on the Government benches or on the Opposition benches, and all individuals, whether they are on the Independent benches or not, must cooperate together to end for all time. There is a serious danger to this State and to the institutions of the State.
I believe, and I have said it on numerous occasions, there are people and organs of public opinion that have been directly responsible, through their speeches and writings, for bringing about a situation in which the institutions of this State have been brought into something like disrepute. Speeches have also, I regret to say, been made from a motive of gaining passing political party advantage which have resulted in the reputation of this country being decried and belittled abroad so that our international credit at the present moment stands in great jeopardy. There are writings in periodicals published abroad suggesting that this country is in a bad way and almost on the verge of insolvency. It is our duty, from every part of this House, to restore confidence in our country and to make all sections of the community believe in the future of the country in which we all ought to have faith and in which we, on this side of the House, have faith.
In the darkest times of last year, we insisted, and I insisted in every speech I made, that, whatever the difficulties, they were difficulties that were capable of being got over; that we had faith in the country and the people and that we believed in the institutions of this State which had been set up with such great difficulty and with so much human sacrifice. It is our duty to see that this Dáil, Parliament and all the institutions of the State are properly respected by every organ of opinion in this country and that we do our part to bring to an end the kinds of things, speeches and writings, that have belittled the institutions of this State, Dáil Éireann, the members of Dáil Éireann and politicians who give themselves up to the service of the State. That is one of the greatest problems we have to meet, tackle and solve. It is as great as the problems of unemployment and emigration.
If we do not inculcate, particularly in the young people growing up, respect for the institutions of the State as now established, respect for our traditions and hopes, then the country is facing a far more dangerous situation than we are facing because of unemployment, emigration, or any of the social problems that affect us. Certainly, in the Fine Gael Party, for whom I speak and for whom only I am entitled to speak, we will do our part now because we know the country requires that this Government should succeed in this task. We will give it every possible assistance to see that it does succeed. That does not say that we are going to lie low here in these Opposition benches. We will, I hope, give a constructive opposition, but at the same time I believe we will give a vigorous and a vigilant opposition.
The present Government appears to have all the ingredients necessary or requisite for a stable Government. We are all agreed that the country needs stability in Government, but it needs more than that. It needs a good and a just Government. It will be our duty and our high task and responsibility in Opposition to help the Government to be a good Government and to be vigilant to secure that in every respect it is a just Government, seeing to the rights of all sections of the people and not merely of those sections of the people who happen to support Fianna Fáil.
I hope I have said sufficient to indicate the manner in which we undertake our task as a responsible Opposition in these very serious times. The whole country looks now for good Government. The country sees and knows that not merely is the country on trial, but, equally, that our institutions are on trial. I do not think that we on this side of the House will fail in the trust that has been imposed on us.
