Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 6 Jun 2002

Vol. 553 No. 1

Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government: Motion

The Taoiseach:

B'áil liom cead a chur in iúl, mar eolas don Dáil, gur chuir mé m'ainmniú mar Thaoiseach in iúl don Uachtarán agus gur cheap sí mé dá réir.

I wish to announce, for the information of the Dáil, that I have informed the President that the Dáil has nominated me to be the Taoiseach and that she has appointed me accordingly.

Tairigim: "Go gcomhaontóidh Dáil Éireann leis an Taoiseach d'ainmniú na dTeachtaí seo a leanas chun a gceaptha ag an Uachtarán mar chomhaltaí den Rialtas."

I move: "That Dáil Éireann approve the nomination by the Taoiseach of the following Deputies for appointment by the President to be members of the Government:

Máire Ní Áirne

Mary Harney

I also propose to nominate her as Tánaiste.

Micheál Mac Gabhann	Michael Smith
Seosamh Breathnach	Joe Walsh
Cathal Mac Riabhaigh	Charlie McCreevy
Brian Ó Comhain	Brian Cowen
Nollaig Ó Diomasaigh	Noel Dempsey
Diarmuid Ó hEichiarn	Dermot Ahern
Seán Ó Donnchadha	John O'Donoghue
Micheál Ó Máirtín	Micheál Martin
Séamus Ó Braonáin	Seamus Brennan
Micheál Mac Dubhghaill	Michael McDowell
Máirtín Ó Cuilinn	Martin Cullen
Éamon Ó Cuív	Éamon Ó Cuív
agus	and
Máire Ní Cochláin	Mary Coughlan

I propose to nominate Rory Brady S.C. for appointment by the President to be the Attorney General.

The programme for Government which has been agreed between the Government parties sets out the agenda and priorities for the next five years. I have started implementing that agenda today in my nominations for the next Government by bringing together a team with an unparalleled range of experience and wealth of abilities. I am also proposing to make key changes in the current allocation of responsibilities among Departments, to better focus resources on achieving the key strategic results to which this Government is committed. As a result of this reallocation of functions, a number of Departments will have new titles to reflect the grouping of functions.

In reviewing the responsibilities of Departments I am acutely conscious of the ever-increasing pace of change in needs and priorities in the modern economy. This is reflected more and more in how the division of responsibilities is shaped and reshaped among Departments to respond most effectively to those challenges. We are fortunate in having a public service which has proved flexible and adaptive in these circumstances.

The development of the integrated transport policy to which we are committed in the programme for Government calls for vigorous and determined efforts during the lifetime of the Government. It requires concentration of resources and alignment of policies to put in place a network of tightly integrated facilities. The Government's commitment is to the creation of high quality transport services to tackle existing bottlenecks and congestion and to support a vigorous programme of spatial development to rebalance growth more equitably among the regions. The building of a modern, quality transport network will best be achieved by bringing together the relevant functions under a single Department dedicated to resolving those issues. This Department will be titled the Department of Transport. It will have responsibility for roads other than local roads, traffic, rail and bus, aviation and road safety. The full details will be worked out in the coming days. I am assigning this Department to Deputy Seamus Brennan.

The Government is committed to a vigorous programme of environmental protection and renewal. Throughout the programme for Government, policies and initiatives have been informed by environmental concerns and by the Government's commitment to protection and preservation of the built and natural environment. The Department of the Environment and Local Government, while continuing to retain its responsibilities in respect of local government, will oversee implementation of a wide range of initiatives arising from the prioritisation of environment friendly policies by the Government. There will be a renewed focus on environmental sustainability. Initiatives will be taken to improve the quality of our air and water. There will be greater emphasis on recycling in waste management and we will continue, and intensify, our efforts to tackle our litter problem. New enforcement mechanisms are to be put in place to drive the agenda for a cleaner, greener environment and we will continue to make our contribution to international actions designed to mitigate and reverse the impact of modern development on the global climate.

With its increasing focus on environmental issues, it is appropriate that the Department of the Environment and Local Government also be given responsibility for the protection of our natural heritage and for heritage policy generally. Accordingly, I intend that responsibility for heritage policy and Dúchas be transferred to that Department, while responsibility for the management and other operational aspects of our built heritage will be exercised by the Office of Public Works. The Meteorological Office will also come under the aegis of the Department of the Environment and Local Government as will responsibility for nuclear safety issues, including policy on Sellafield and the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. I am assigning this Department to Deputy Martin Cullen.

There are a number of other changes in responsibilities of Departments which I believe will be beneficial in providing structural support to Government in its programme for the next five years. This realignment of responsibilities will also help to exploit the synergies which will be generated by the more dynamic grouping of departmental functions which I am proposing.

One of the important underpinnings of economic development in the years ahead will be to ensure that the core services of a modern economy and our natural resources are developed to the full. Accordingly, I propose to bring together these important economic activities which include telecommunications, broadcasting, energy, marine and natural resources in a Department of Communications and Natural Resources which will also have responsibility for the Geological Survey of Ireland. I am assigning this Department to Deputy Dermot Ahern.

As well as securing economic development, the Government has to address issues of regional and social balance in a more effective way. The changes I am proposing are designed to produce a more co-ordinated engagement by the State with communities around the country, especially in the western part of the country as they pursue their own development. A Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, is therefore being set up. It will be given responsibility for community and local development, including drugs, volunteering and the CAIT initiative, and rural development, including Leader, CLÁR and western development. The Department will also have responsibility for the islands. I am assigning this Department to Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív.

In consequence of these changes, the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs will become the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development will become the Department of Agriculture and Food. I am assigning these Departments to Deputies Mary Coughlan and Joe Walsh respectively.

Some key areas of our national life are not easily designated as economic or social, but they have dimensions of both. To reflect those important areas in a more appropriate way, a Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism will take responsibility for progressing Government commitments in those areas. I am assigning this Department to Deputy John O'Donoghue.

Pending the making of the necessary orders to give effect to these changes, I propose to announce the assignment of Ministers to Departments based upon the existing departmental configurations and division of responsibilities. Those assignment, in full, are as follows:

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to Mary Harney.

Department of Defence to Michael Smith.

Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development to Joe Walsh.

Department of Finance to Charlie McCreevy.

Department of Foreign Affairs to Brian Cowen.

Department of Education and Science to Noel Dempsey.

Department of the Marine and Natural Resources to Dermot Ahern.

Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands to Éamon Ó Cuív.

Department of Health and Children to Micheál Martin.

Department of Public Enterprise to Seamus Brennan.

Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to Michael McDowell.

Department of the Environment and Local Government to Martin Cullen.

Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation to John O'Donoghue.

Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs to Mary Coughlan.

It is customary at this time also to announce the intention to nominate for appointment by the Government a small number of key Ministers of State. I propose to nominate Deputy Mary Hanafin for appointment by the Government as Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and as Government Chief Whip.

Considerable progress has been made in building the foundations of an information society in Ireland which will be inclusive and dynamic and which will harness all the benefits of the new information and communications technologies. However, there is a vast programme of change and innovation which must be undertaken if the Government's ambition to position Ireland at the leading edge of technological change is to be realised. Comprehensive new structures have been put in place to lead this process of change and I intend that the Government Chief Whip should be assigned political responsibility for co-ordinating policy in this area.

The Government is committed to the process of enlargement and, with all others who are convinced about Ireland's future in the European Union, will be seeking the approval of the people for the Nice treaty on enlargement on the basis of addressing the concerns expressed during previous referendums and in the National Forum on Europe.

In addition, preparations must be commenced now for Ireland's Presidency of the EU in 2004. I have decided therefore to create a post of Minister of State for Europe to co-ordinate on these and other issues. The Minister of State is being assigned to the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs. Accordingly, I also propose to nominate Deputy Dick Roche as Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and at the Department of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for European Affairs.

Mr. G. Mitchell:

He will have to dig up what he said about Europe.

The Taoiseach:

The Government will, in due course, appoint the other Ministers of State. I will inform the Dáil of those appointments when they are made. I commend the new Government to the Dáil and wish my colleagues every success in the years ahead.

Mr. Kenny:

The formal beginning of the 29th Dáil has been marked by an ignominious slur on Members of the House in view of the fact that the entire population of Ireland has been made aware of these announcements and appointments before Members of the House. Despite the world-class operation of much of the Taoiseach's and Government's public relations offices, this is an enormous slur on Members of the House, a point which must be made very strongly.

One of the most frustrating things about politics is the giving of effect to and the translation of political decisions into service and efficiency. While the changes recommended by the Taoiseach to some Departments and the changes in responsibilities are welcome, there will probably be a long hiatus before effect is translated into service.

It is obvious that there are a number of people on the far side of the House who are disappointed with the appointments. I congratulate those who have been appointed and wish them well on what is a very special day for them and their families. I hope they will do well in their Departments despite the onerous task that faces them.

One of the more interesting appointments will be that of the Minster for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell. We will be waiting with bated breath to see whether the streets will be cleaned up, the prison reforms he will introduce and whether safety will abound on our streets instead of fear. I wish him well in what is an enormous Department. I am sure his predecessor, Deputy O'Donoghue, he of the zero crime legacy, will find a welcome change in the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.

Mr. Durkan:

He will have more fun anyway.

Mr. Kenny:

No doubt the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism from Kerry will do very well and will be lobbied intensely by his compatriot Independent, Deputy Healy-Rae. Obviously, there are some great survivors. Deputy Michael Smith is still there. Deputy Walsh must have taken out full shares in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at this stage. To quote Milton to Deputy Roche, "They also serve who only stand and wait."

In congratulating the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Government, I assure them that the performances and activities of the Ministers in this Government will be carefully followed, monitored and challenged by Fine Gael. We will provide vigorous and constructive opposition and we will not tolerate inept or incompetent performances, which were the hallmark of some Ministries in the last Government.

The task facing the Government is truly a daunting one. There are many social and economic challenges facing this country, none of which can be tackled unless we have sound public finances.

The performance of the outgoing Government was marked by a series of broken promises and economic mismanagement. It promised to control public spending. What was the result? Spending is now rocketing at twice the projected level and the year-end deficit could be well over €1 billion. What unseen and unannounced cutbacks are being secretly planned to bring this spending under control?

It promised to introduce a policy of zero tolerance of crime. What was the result? Violent crime, particularly street crime, has grown dramatically. It promised to reduce the price of housing. What was the result? House prices have more than doubled and home ownership is now beyond the reach of most young people. It promised to end hospital waiting lists. What was the result? After five years of unprecedented prosperity, waiting lists stand at more than 26,000 people. It promised to bring forward a national spatial strategy and a national decentralisation programme. What was the result? Both of these critical regional development initiatives were shelved for electoral reasons.

The Exchequer returns released yesterday provide further evidence that the outgoing Government lost control of the public finances. Having been elected five years ago on a solemn promise to control public expenditure, it has allowed current spending to increase at a totally unsustainable level.

Five years ago the Taoiseach promised to limit the growth in current spending to 4% per annum. What was the result? Spending has grown by over 40% in the past two years alone. Realising that it's original target could not be achieved, the Government set a more modest target last December of 14% spending growth for 2002. The new statistics to hand show that, in the first five months of the year, spending has grown by 27%, almost double the target set by the Government. This level of spending has been reached before any provision for public pay benchmarking has arrived in the public domain.

If these unsustainable rises in spending are not bad enough, the Exchequer returns also reveal that income tax revenues were down by 15% on the same period last year. That means that if these trends continue, there will be a yawning gap of up to 1% of GDP in the public finances by the end of this year.

Virtually all economists agree that for the first time in over five years the Government will end the year in deficit. This represents a shocking indictment of the economic management of the outgoing Government. Five years ago, it inherited a sound economy from the rainbow Government, which had achieved the first surplus since 1972. In the meantime, these vast resources have been squandered with very little to show for it.

During the recent election campaign, Fianna Fáil in particular refused to acknowledge the growing crisis in the public finances. It managed to conceal the true position from the public, but the evidence of its mismanagement is now there for all to see.

I call on the Taoiseach as a matter of urgency to set out in detail for the House and the public how he plans to bring the public finances under control. This must be the first priority of this new Government. Otherwise, many of the promises and commitments entered into in the new programme for Government will be meaningless. For instance, with regard to Stadium Ireland, work will start on a world-class national stadium, but there is no timescale and there are no costings or details of capacity, size or location.

The Taoiseach said we would submit the Nice treaty to the people in a referendum to be held later this year in a way which seeks to address the concerns of the people, as "expressed during previous referendums and in the National Forum on Europe." He was not able to do this last year so why should we believe that he will be able to do it this year? There is no detail in the programme as to how the Government will address the real fears of the people. Since the defeat of the Nice referendum, no road map has been devised that will deliver a clear "Yes" vote.

Some of the election promises of Fianna Fáil have already been sidelined. Having spent most of the election campaign challenging all other parties on the costings of their proposals, it is interesting to note that the programme for Government contains no costings whatsoever. It also fails to mention prioritisation or timetabling of the proposals. It is full of vague aspirations which are clearly designed to make it difficult to measure the performance of Ministers.

The programme for Government does not inspire confidence that the new Government has either the capacity or the political will to tackle the many problems that have been allowed to fester for the past five years. For example, the new Government is proposing to implement fully the national development plan, a plan which is already seriously behind time and over budget. When one considers that only 33 km of new roadway were built last year, with the Government having promised 330 km, it is difficult to take this promise seriously.

Perhaps the most alarming deficiency of the programme for Government is that it fails to set out a coherent plan for the future of our economy. The Government has taken its eye off the ball in terms of securing continuing economic progress. Its failure to develop an adequate infrastructure or to implement any worthwhile regional policy will hamper future job creation, particularly in the regions. Escalating insurance costs and an inflation rate which is double the European average also threaten the competitiveness of the economy and of jobs.

Fine Gael in opposition will provide vigorous, effective and constructive opposition to the Government. We will reclaim the centre ground in Irish politics. Our policy positions will be driven by our core beliefs. Fine Gael's political philosophy is based on values rather than on opportunism. A strong economy and sound public finances are the bedrock of a successful country. We support the provision of quality public services and stress the need for better value for money in their delivery. We support enterprise and we believe that efforts should be rewarded. However, the interests of the community should take precedence over the interests of the individual. As a party, Fine Gael has always put the national interest first and that will continue to be a core principle under my leadership.

We must question the value of spending in our public services. When one examines the state of accident and emergency wards at weekends, the traffic chaos and the situation in many schools around the country, particularly at first and second level, one will see that health and education, the two areas which make a nation tick, have been seriously under-resourced and, where resourced properly, have been ineffectively managed. I hope the Ministers and the Ministers of State, who have yet to be appointed, will take their responsibilities seriously and that they will drive aggressively towards the goals set out in the programme for Government. The Taoiseach can rest assured that we will support the Government in the national interest, but the Members on this side of the House will harry and relentlessly pursue the Ministers if they fail to live up to their priorities and the aspirations of their remits.

Mr. Quinn:

I invite the Taoiseach to consider making a formal apology to the House at some stage during the debate this evening for the unprofessional and incompetent manner in which the announcement of the Government accountable to the 29th Dáil was made. Had it come from some of the newly elected Deputies in the House or from a newly formed party, it might have been understandable. However, given that it came from one of the slickest, smartest and most professional political parties which prided itself on the manner in which it manipulated—

Mr. O'Donoghue:

I thank the Deputy.

Mr. Quinn:

If the Deputy regards being called slick as a compliment, he is welcome to it. For the efforts of all the Deputies who got elected and their families who ensured they got elected and for the efforts of all the new Deputies who have come to the House for the first time, the House was, probably inadvertently, treated with contempt, and that contempt stands until it is purged. I invite the Taoiseach to formally apologise, but not in the way he just did.

The Taoiseach:

The normal practice is that when I stand to speak, a member from GIS starts to circulate the script, as happened today. When I stood up today, the script was circulated, but I was reading a note on the time motion, not the speech. That is where the mistake was made. I thank the members of the press who held it. I know the national broadcaster had already moved on it. I apologise to the House.

Mr. Quinn:

I thank the Taoiseach. I congratulate the members of the Cabinet who have been reappointed and those who have been appointed for the first time. I wish them well. On behalf of my party, I understand the sense of achievement, responsibility and excitement which they must feel. In so far as this is a democracy where the power comes from the people, they have been given the mandate to exercise it and I congratulate them. As regards those Members of the House who have publicly lost their jobs, it may be one thing to be fired by the electorate, but it is another to be fired in the House by their party leader for whatever reason. That cannot be easy. We would all be less than human if we did not empathise with those colleagues and their families and friends who find themselves in that position. Nobody gets elected to the House on their own. Every family, many of whom are in the Visitors Gallery, knows the cost of the achievement of electoral success. I congratulate those in the Cabinet and I send my condolences to those who find themselves outside it on this occasion.

We have had five years of prosperity on the back of three or four years of emerging prosperity. In the lifetime of the State no general election has taken place against the background of sustained prosperity. To that extent, a rising tide lifted all boats. However, the tide was lifted in such a way and fuelled in such a manner that many boats remained rowing boats, while many others were turned into luxury yachts. I deeply regret that the electorate chose to make the decision they made in the general election. As a socialist, I believe that they took a desperately wrong turn in the way they chose to cast their vote but as a democrat, I accept it. The people who voted for the continuation of prosperity as they perceived it and for the continuation of the promise of services should brace themselves for bitter disappointment.

I do not share the view that the public finances are out of control or that our public finances are in disarray. That view was expressed by some Members of this House as recently as this afternoon and by many of our commentators. We have seen a sustained splurge in public expenditure over the past 18 months to two years. It was deliberate, considered and carefully measured down to the timing of its delivery. We are now about to get a reversal of that splurge. The signs are already there and the indications have already been leaked to the media. The commentators who have access to briefings have been told they will get the correction which is required.

Against that background, it is not possible for the Minister for Health and Children to eliminate waiting lists in 700 days, as he promised. He did not say that as a naive backbencher who had been elected to the House for the first time or as someone who did not have the experience of office, but in the full frontal knowledge that what he promised was impossible. It is only one of a number of promises which will be impossible. To suggest, as was suggested by one of the members of the Progressive Democrats, that there is a differ ence between an election promise and a programme for Government is to fuel the flames of cynicism, which resulted in many people not bothering to vote in the last election. We will hold the Government to its promises which are manifest in the manner in which they were delivered around the country.

Our task will be, as we did during the election, to say that one cannot have the level of public services proffered by this Government, comparable to what is available in other parts of Europe, at the level of proposed expenditure as a percentage of national income and as indicated in the budgetary figures published by the present Minister for Finance, who will be confirmed in that position again later today. It is not possible and every one of the experienced Ministers know that.

The people who do not know it are those who have been conned into voting for them and those depending on community employment schemes for the delivery of basic services in deprived and working class communities. The number of community employment schemes is to be drastically reduced, even below the level of the social partnership programme. Market forces will not rush into places like Neilstown, Darndale, Ringsend and the city quays to take up the slack and to provide the level of services required.

We have seen what has happened in education. Deputies know what has happened to schools that have lost their community employment caretakers or minders. Deputies also know what is going to happen in the health sector, and have been lobbied in their constituencies. That will be done unashamedly by the Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats, Deputy Harney.

That is what we now face and the task of the Labour Party and others who share our values and views is to hold up the candle and show clearly where people have been duped and where this Government cannot deliver on what it promises. The 700 days to eliminate waiting lists will become the totem of so many other promises that cannot be delivered if the budgetary figures, which the Minister for Finance has already published and put to the Commission in Brussels and discussed in the House, are to be adhered to. We should be clear that the public finances are not out of control. There was a sustained binge to achieve this election result and that binge is now over. The people who will pay the price of that binge are those who depend exclusively on public services for a minimum quality of life.

I want to turn to some of the changes proposed in the structure of Government and to ask the Taoiseach when we will get the details of the allocation of different functions and responsibilities, and when he anticipates that the various alignments of sections from different Departments will fit into place and will be available. What is proposed here, as I see it on first reading, is a comprehensive reallocation of different responsibilities. I want to turn firstly to transport. It appears that a significant section of the Department of the Environment and Local Government, that responsible for roads and presumably the National Roads Authority, will be transferred to the Department responsible for transport. We would like to hear, if the information is available, whether the responsibility for the national spatial strategy will also be transferred to that Department. There was speculation as to whether we would have a Department responsible for infrastructure and transport, or for transport on its own. In support of the objective of giving this country the kind of infrastructure it desperately needs, whether in the west, the east coast or the midlands, one must align transport with the national spatial strategy. I urgently ask the new Ministers in the various Departments not to immediately become territorial and hold onto components of their Departments at the behest of permanent civil servants who will never have to stand for election. If it is not yet agreed, the Minister with responsibility for infrastructure and transport should have responsibility for the national spatial plan or it will not work.

In relation to broadcasting and where responsibility for it will lie, the Department of Communications and Natural Resources has been assigned to a very able Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern. However, unless there is absolute clarity as to the future of the national broadcasting corporation, RTE, and its economic survival including an increase in the licence fee, we will not have the kind of broadcasting service that we require.

In the course of his reply, the Taoiseach should outline the timetable for departmental responsibilities. I say this as one who has had direct responsibility. If this cannot be done by the end of this month, it will not be done over the course of the five years of this Administration. While I dispute some of the things the Taoiseach has done, and fundamentally disagree with his political philosophy as outlined in his programme and what we now see, I hope he makes the best of what it is he intends to do. From my experience, which I shared with the Taoiseach – we both recall the territorial turf war that was the Office of Public Works for nearly four years – unless this problem is addressed with all the experience at the Government's command, the Taoiseach will not achieve the targets he has set.

Finally, I turn to the Progressive Democrats. "No to single party Government" was the slogan magnificently hoisted on the poster.

Mr. O'Dowd:

What about Ceaucescu?

Mr. Quinn:

The Progressive Democrats were to be the watchdogs of this Government that could not otherwise be trusted. This Taoiseach got 93 votes and does not need the Progressive Democrats. There was a queue among Independent Deputies who rushed to abstain and rushed to vote. What we have is not a party that is a watchdog but a party that has become a lapdog. I wish the Progressive Democrats well. In the past, they were to be about power and not just office. They have now got the offices and I wish them well. However, let us see what they deliver. My fear is that they will deliver what they promise. My fear is that we will see the decimation of the community employment schemes and the implementation of the cutbacks promised in the various sectors of our public services. I fear that those who can least afford it, the most vulnerable in our society, will carry the cost of the pre-election splurge that was so successful on 17 May.

Ms Harney:

I rise to support the nominations that the Taoiseach has made to his Government. Before I address that, I remind Deputy Quinn that five years ago, when a Minister of the rainbow Government was leaving his Department, that Minister told the Secretary General of the Department that he would be back in six months. That was five years ago and Deputy Quinn has still not come to terms with the outcome of this election. Whatever about lapdogs, no man has tried harder than Deputy Quinn to get to the position that I will hopefully hold this evening. He will have to accept that the vote of the electorate in May was decisive.

Mr. S. Ryan:

We have.

Mr. Stagg:

We are ready for you.

Ms Harney:

Both Government parties received an enhanced mandate from the people. They did so for very good reasons. It was not because the people were duped or fooled, or because there was no alternative and that the Opposition could not get it together. It was because the vast majority of the people are very proud of what Ireland has achieved in recent years—

Mr. G. Mitchell:

Homelessness.

Ms Harney:

—and nowhere is that more evident than when we go abroad and meet people who left this country in very different circumstances. They are very proud of what this country and not just this Government but many Governments, social partners and others, particularly the hard-working people of this country, have achieved together.

Mr. J. Higgins:

Who was in power when they had to leave?

Ms Harney:

There are problems, challenges and difficulties but they are not insurmountable. Above all, the outcome of this election was that the people wanted a decisive Government, stability and effectiveness.

Mr. Howlin:

Did the Tánaiste tell the people not to trust Fianna Fáil?

Ms Harney:

I will deal with that in a moment.

Mr. G. Mitchell:

What did the Progressive Democrats say about the Romanian dictator?

Ms Harney:

The people did not see any alternative Government to the one that is being put in place at the moment. On the issue of trust, I say to Deputy Howlin that on no occasion during the course of the general election campaign did I say that the people with whom I have shared Government for the past five years could not be trusted. I did not say that and I do not believe that.

Mr. Howlin:

Is the Tánaiste disowning Deputy McDowell already?

Mr. Stagg:

The Minister said Fianna Fáil could not be trusted.

Ms Harney:

I was in office with people who are honest and decent and who work hard. I said, and I strongly believe, that the coalition model of Government which has been in operation for some time is the most effective form of Government.

Mr. G. Mitchell:

The Progressive Democrats are not in coalition. They are an addendum.

Ms Harney:

Coalition delivers better checks and balances and scrutinises policies in a more critical fashion than single party Government. That does not apply to any one party but to all parties.

I listened this morning to Deputies talking about centre right and centre left parties. Many Members are not ideologues and we do not take our politics from text books. We did not have to go to university to study political science. When I sat where Deputy Cullen is sitting now the Labour Party sat on my left and Fianna Fáil sat on my right. As the Ceann Comhairle looks down at the House the Labour Party is centre right and Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats are on the left.

Mr. Stagg:

The Minister's politics are right wing. Where she sits in the House does not matter.

Ms Harney:

It all depends on one's perspective. Is Tony Blair leading a centre right Government in Britain?

Mr. Durkan:

Yes.

Ms Harney:

Many of the Labour Party's allies are in Government in several European countries where they implement the kind of policies that have been implemented in this country over the past five years. They do so not for ideological reasons, but because those policies work. Anyone who thinks reducing the burden of tax on working people is right wing needs to think again. Was increasing spending on health from €3 billion to €8 billion the wrong strategy?

Mr. Stagg:

And doubling queues in the process?

Ms Harney:

Was increasing social welfare spending by 50%, increasing spending on education by 70% and targeting resources on old age pensioners and people in disadvantaged areas wrong? Anyone who thinks so needs to think again.

Mr. Sherlock:

Is the Minister aware of public service pensioners who have exhausted their savings?

Ms Harney:

I am proud of the fact that the previous Government was the first to introduce a national minimum wage.

Mr. Stanton:

And it was taxed.

Ms Harney:

When we took office in 1997 a person earning £70 a week was liable for tax. The current figure is £168 and in the next number of years people earning the minimum wage will be removed from the tax net altogether.

I am proud that Ireland is the seventh largest contributor to overseas development aid. We have sought to deal with the problems of this country but we have not forgotten our wider obligations to impoverished people in many disadvantaged regions of the world.

The world's largest bio-pharmaceutical plant is being built in Ireland by Wyeth. Intel is building its new wafer fabrication plant in Ireland. These large companies are not building plants here for sentimental reasons but because this country has talented and skilled people and a terrific education system, providing the competitiveness which allows us to compete globally and produce good products. This is something of which we should be proud.

Above all else, when people choose a Government, they want political stability. Over the next five years the Government will tackle the issues which pose the biggest difficulties for the country. We will soon have to decide whether we want to stay in the mainstream in Europe and be part of the decision making process in the heart of Europe or drift into an isolationist or marginal position. Our people must make that choice. If we want to protect jobs, our economy and the living standards of our people, we will have no option but to vote in favour of the ratification of the treaty. There is no future for this country as another Iceland.

Much of the realignment of Departments is done with a view to delivering more effective Government. Changes are not being made for the sake of change. There is no point making changes unless there will be a positive outcome. Administrative changes can be difficult to accomplish and there is no point wasting time and money on them if there will not be a positive outcome. It is important to have a Department with responsibility for transport so that all the national trans port needs of the economy, from aviation to rail and road, can be dealt with in a single Department with one political head. Bringing telecommunications and communications together is also important. It makes sense to give that new responsibility to the Department of Communications and Natural Resources, under Deputy Dermot Ahern. Many of the community based activities previously the responsibility of the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation will be assigned to a new Department under Deputy Ó Cuív. These changes make sense. If other changes are required they will be made, but only on the basis that they make sense and deliver better Government and more effective decision making.

Some people will not continue to be members of the Cabinet. Mary O'Rourke, for example, lost her seat in the recent general election. I pay tribute to Mary O'Rourke. On an occasion when her party did particularly well, it was sad that some people lost. Mary O'Rourke worked extremely hard despite a personal bereavement in the past year. I wish her well. Deputies Jim McDaid, Síle de Valera, Frank Fahey and Michael Woods are no longer members of the Cabinet. I had the pleasure of working with them over the past five years and I wish each of them well. Making decisions is never easy for political leaders but change must be made. Those who lose out and their families suffer feelings of disappointment and we feel for them.

I welcome the appointment of Deputy Séamus Brennan as the new Minister for Transport. He was an outstanding Chief Whip who skilfully and efficiently kept a minority Government in power for five years. His appointment is well deserved. I do not know if anyone would be a more popular choice than Deputy Mary Coughlan. If her popularity continues after she has held ministerial office it will be quite an achievement, but throughout the House people are pleased that she has finally become a member of the Cabinet. I wish Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív well. He has new and onerous responsibilities and I know he will do a terrific job. Deputy Martin Cullen will take on responsibilities at the Department of the Environment and Local Government. Our environment was clean and green in the past when the country was not industrialised or densely populated. That will not remain the case in the future unless we put in place policies and approaches that enhance and protect our environment.

I do not know of a precedent for an Attorney General going directly to a place in the Cabinet. There have, of course, been Attorneys General, such as the former Deputy Declan Costello and the late Deputy John Kelly, who have been Members of this House.

Mr. Rabbitte:

There were not too many who climbed up poles.

Ms Harney:

Deputy McDowell is a man of many talents, as Deputy Rabbitte knows. Whether putting posters on poles or making radical or redundant speeches, Deputy McDowell is a multi-talented individual. He will be a terrific Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. His legal background and experience together with his intellectual capacity and his toughness will make him an ideal person at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which is a very important Department.

In selecting new members and realigning positions the Taoiseach has made very wise choices. I wish everybody well in their posts. The Taoiseach has appointed the first woman Chief Whip. On the last occasion I was the first woman Tánaiste and understand the first female head of the Government Information Services has been appointed. This morning I referred to the fact that the number of women in the House had only increased by two. We have not made much progress in that regard since 1992. However, it is significant that women are now going into key positions in the Government. This is important because women who hold key positions can be good role models to encourage other women into politics. Any assembly or government which does not have a critical mass of men and women does not make objective decisions.

I look forward to the next five years and the vigorous opposition that we will apparently have from the many parties in opposition.

Mr. Gormley:

If we are allowed.

Ms Harney:

It is very hard to silence the Deputy. I believe he even turned up at one of my press conferences during the general election for which I thank him.

Mr. Gormley:

She gave us the wrong time for that also.

Ms Harney:

There are many new Deputies in the House for whom today is an exciting day. We all have a responsibility, whether we are in government or opposition. In the case of the Opposition, it is to provide vigorous and rigorous opposition and in the case of the Government, to provide honest, stable and good government. The duty of a smaller party in coalition is to work with other parties to provide that stability and work with like-minded parties to ensure we put in place the appropriate policies and strategies to meet the challenges ahead for the country and the people we are honoured to represent.

Mr. Sargent:

On a point of order, I express my regret that the Green Party is being gagged as I pointed out. The Taoiseach read an order that requires the Green Party to speak at the gift of the Government parties.

An Ceann Comhairle:

That matter does not arise. The Deputy is aware of the Standing Orders of this House.

Mr. Sargent:

When Deputy McDowell referred to Ceaucescu he might well have been referring to this Assembly, because there is no provision for smaller parties to speak.

An Ceann Comhairle:

The Deputy is being disorderly.

Mr. Sargent:

With that in mind, we cannot take part in this debate.

An Ceann Comhairle:

The Deputy is well aware that on the basis of proportionality it is now the duty of the Chair to call a speaker from Fine Gael.

Mr. R. Bruton:

I join others in congratulating the new appointees to the Government. I regret there is no longer a northside Dublin Minister. I wish Deputy Woods well for the future.

The Government has set out as its first priority in its programme for Government that we should see low inflation, responsible fiscal policies and effective investment policies as central to rebuilding the economy. This public finance crisis – although I heard Deputy Quinn say it is not a crisis, most others call it a crisis – is entirely of the Government's making and in that I agree with Deputy Quinn. Successive years of spending growth in excess of 20% have created this crisis. Moreover, the Government has grossly mismanaged tax revenues, which have only seen low single digit increases in the past two years. We are facing into a serious situation where there is a large black hole that is unexplained by the Minister for Finance or any Government spokesperson. We cannot proceed to spend money at a growth rate of 20% per year with tax returns this year in decline and think we are on a sensible road to long-term competitiveness.

Where were the Progressive Democrats when these decisions were made? Deputy McDowell is now a member of the Cabinet. Perhaps this will bring greater financial rectitude to the Government. Where was the Tánaiste when these decisions on spending were being taken? Where is the budgetary framework for the next five years in the programme for Government? The Government and its handlers during the general election campaign excoriated Opposition parties for the way they planned the public finances for the next five years. Here they are with the full resources of the State behind them, drawing up a programme for the next five years without saying from where the funding will come. Not only is that sharp political practice, it is also irresponsible. It is throwing the compass out of the ship at a time when the water is getting choppy. We need a budgetary framework or else we will face into the abyss.

The Government has stated it wants to see investment for the future. Does it not realise that by not having a clear budgetary framework, we are undermining the resources to provide investment for the future? There was a really slick compromise by producing a two-headed monster for funding investment for the future. We are to have two bodies, a national development authority, to suit the Taoiseach and his party colleagues, and a national transformation fund, to suit the Tánaiste and her colleagues. What is the point of these funds? Is it not just to distort the fact that the Government does not have a plan for the amount of money it will spend on this important infrastructure? That is the reality of this sad programme.

As Deputy Kenny said, the silence on pay is deafening. We face into benchmarking, not two years hence, but next month when we will have to pay 25% of the total. Surely this warranted mention as we approach the future. The Government needs to look, not only at its spending, but the quality of its spending. Anyone expecting to see reform in this programme would be sadly disappointed. There is no reform, just as the past five years have been characterised by high spending but no reform.

Education is perhaps the most glaring example. The Irish Times generously described it as a very cautious document. I would go further. It has no vision and states nothing about the direction in which it will take education. No mention is made of the huge hole created by the reduction in the number of science students in our education system. People are leaving science in droves, but the Tánaiste tells us we will have all these new jobs in technology. Where is the response? Where is the response to the need to have a school improvement process that addresses literacy, for example? One in six of our children leave school not able to read the side of an aspirin package. What has this programme to say about that problem? The answer is nothing.

There is no reform of the examination system which condemns many. A crude examination system based on memory retention is not the way for the economy of the future that the Tánaiste and her colleagues espouse. We need an educational development and improvement process to build our education system to world class standards. There is no glimmer of a thought showing that is the way we need to go.

This programme has ignored the need for a real benchmark to stake out the progress we need to make in the next five years. There are laudable aims such as cutting the cost of employer's and public liability insurance. By how much will it be cut? What does the Government want to achieve in this area? What is the benchmark it is setting? What about the social housing programme? In Dublin waiting lists doubled under the last Government. What does it hope to achieve in relation to housing? Once again these seem to be items for the future and no targets are set.

We know the target for hospital waiting lists set during the general election campaign has now been abandoned and there is to be none for a number of years. There is to be no target in relation to the ending of the two tier health service, only that it is to be encouraged. There is nothing solid or reforming in this programme. It is more of the same and will be a bitter disappointment to those who expected more.

I commend the decision to create a unified Department of Transport. However, the failures of the previous Government have been ones of ineptitude. Once again we see the same promises rolled out in the transport section, on which it failed to deliver in the past five years. Again we are promised a greater Dublin transport authority. Why was it not delivered in the past five years? There is to be integrated ticketing. The last Minister had three studies of integrated ticketing undertaken and again the programme simply promises it for the future. Bus competition was to have been provided for years ago, but this programme now merely refers to reforming the Transport Act at some time in the future to make that possible.

This programme is not the basis for reform. It is more of the same complacency. That is not good enough for our economy and society. We face real challenges, not only in our economy to be modern, have good communications infrastructures and a good education system, but also in society. Let us be brutally honest. The social fabric of our society has changed massively in recent times and it needs to be rebuilt for a new generation. This programme for Government is deafeningly silent on the future needs of children, for example, and there is no indication that parents will receive greater supports for the difficult task of parenting. The programme refers to rebuilding social capital at a time when it is being undermined by developer-led growth which has dictated traffic and development patterns. The programme is high on aspiration but low on targets, reform and real commitments.

Mr. J. O'Keeffe:

I congratulate the Taoiseach and all the new members of the Cabinet. I hope I will be pardoned for congratulating in particular my constituency colleague, Deputy Walsh, who is still looking after the Agriculture brief. In the few minutes available to me I wish to focus on one issue and would appeal to the Taoiseach and the new Government concerning it. This country will face the greatest crisis in its international relations if, by the end of this year, we are seen to be delaying or impeding the enlargement of the European Union. If that happens we will be entirely isolated from the mainstream of Europe and will be operating against an historic imperative to join in the enlargement of the European Union. Europe was artificially divided by 50 years of Communist domination but since joining the EU we have gained much.

The Government's record on this issue, however, is not reassuring. We witnessed the appalling failure of the Government to campaign properly for the Treaty of Nice last June, and since then we have had heard very little from the Government to compensate for that failure. The interest of the Taoiseach and his Government in the subject over the past five years has not been reassuring. Five years ago, there was a botched attempt to appoint a Minister for European Affairs at Cabinet level. When that failed on constitutional grounds we did not even have a Minister of State appointed. Some compensation has been made today and I wish the new Minister of State, Deputy Roche, well. I hope he will be able to put his talents to constructive use in his future role. It is too little too late, however.

The Government's record shows that over the past five years Ministers have been continually absent from important European Council meetings. I want an assurance from the Taoiseach that if Ministers are unable to attend such meetings they will be represented by their Ministers of State. Many EU directives that were agreed by Fianna Fáil and PD Ministers have not been implemented. Infringement proceedings have been taken against Ireland and we have been hauled before the European Court of Justice on 31 occasions over the past five years. Our interests in Europe have been neglected and, above all, apart from the humiliating withdrawal of the O'Flaherty nomination to the European Investment Bank, the Government has failed to explain properly the provisions of the Treaty of Nice. It is important that we should not impede or delay enlargement. What are we going to do for the future? The Government should demonstrate a real sense of urgency and a united approach to the Treaty of Nice. To some degree, I am reassured by the fact that the Tánaiste referred to this matter in her speech. She wants us to be in the mainstream of Europe and I hope the focus over the next 12 months will be on Berlin rather than Boston. I hope there will be a united effort by the Government. I have no problem with the Taoiseach opening pubs, but he should make an effort to open the minds of the people to the huge importance of this issue. He must provide the lead in this regard and he must have his entire Cabinet behind him.

The Taoiseach:

Will the Deputy help me this time, or will he send all his Deputies to south Tipperary and say that Europe does not matter? It would be a change for the Opposition. Does he remember that?

Mr. J. O'Keeffe:

The Taoiseach can take it that there will be an absolute effort on the part of the Fine Gael Party, the leading party in Opposition, behind that.

Mr. R. Bruton:

The Tánaiste is talking from both sides of her mouth about Europe.

Mr. J. O'Keeffe:

Will the Taoiseach have the full support of the Minister Éamon Ó Cuív, in this effort? Will he vote for the Treaty of Nice when it goes before the people again?

The Taoiseach:

All 80 of my colleagues will do so. I just need support from the Deputy.

Mr. J. O'Keeffe:

I have no interest in making personal comments about Deputy Ó Cuív. He worked hard as a Minister of State and tried to do a good job, but he certainly did nothing from the point of view of the European effort. After the last referendum on Nice, if I recollect rightly, he publicly proclaimed that he had actually voted against it. I hope the Taoiseach will ensure that Deputy Ó Cuív will take part in a united campaign to ensure that the Treaty of Nice will not be defeated the next time. Since that defeat, we have not used the last 12 months properly. We have not put in place changes in Oireachtas procedures to allow, for example, MEPs and European Commissioners to appear before the Seanad. We have not provided sufficient powers or resources to Oireachtas committees to properly vet EU legislation or appointments.

To a large degree, over the past 12 months, we have been sleep-walking towards another defeat on the Treaty of Nice. We have not confronted the issue of neutrality or the phoney slogan "No to Nice, No to NATO". The Government has not taken the necessary steps to address the concerns of the people about the last referendum. Unless we ensure these issues are properly addressed in the short time available before the next referendum, the penalty will be paid not just by the Government but by this country. Let us not repeat this awful mistake. Let us not be the one country in Europe to impede the enlargement of the European Union. Let us not put ourselves in total isolation from Europe. That is the main job confronting the Taoiseach and his Cabinet colleagues over the next six months.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin:

I wish to share my time with my party colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh.

I congratulate the Taoiseach on his re-election. I and my colleagues in the House and, indeed, in the rest of the leadership of Sinn Féin, look forward to continuing to work with the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues in advancing the peace process and fully implementing the Good Friday Agreement in all its respects. That must be the priority of all parties and, indeed, of all Deputies. The cause of peace and justice, and the unity of the Irish people, is a cause that transcends party politics.

The Taoiseach has nominated his Cabinet and I wish the nominees well, both as fellow Deputies and as individuals. However, to vote for this proposed Cabinet is to vote for the programme for Government which has been agreed by the Fianna Fáil Party and its coalition colleagues the Progressive Democrats. It is a flawed programme in which the Government signals its intention to carry on regardless of its failed approach over the past five years. There is a contradiction at the very start of the proposed programme: the incoming Government intends to put the same Treaty of Nice before the people in a replay of the first referendum. Having failed to implement the decision of the electorate and request the other EU states not to proceed with ratification, the Government now intends to insult the electorate by telling them to get it right this time. We have just heard such an appeal. Incredibly, the programme for Government goes on to state that "the broad institutional balance, as it currently exists" serves the European Union well. Yet, the Nice treaty fundamentally alters the balance within the Union, as referred to. It sounds the death knell for the democratic power of veto of sovereign states. It expands qualified majority voting and takes away the right of each state to nominate a commissioner. It represents, in our view, a further significant step away from a partnership of equal states towards a militarised European Union totally dominated by the larger players – the larger states.

The programme to which the incoming Cabinet is committed continues the inequitable taxation policies of the outgoing Government. Those on the national minimum wage will have to wait another five years before they are removed from the tax net, if they are lucky. In total contrast, the reduction of corporation tax to 12.5% is to be completed next year. The low paid must wait while major corporations who export their profits enjoy the lowest tax rates in the EU.

One of our principal reasons for opposing this programme and this incoming Government is the inclusion of the privatisation agenda of the Progressive Democrats. That agenda may have been smuggled into the programme under the coat of Deputy Charlie McCreevy but, none the less, it is unmistakably there. We are told that revenue from the sale of State assets will be used to create a national transformation fund. We saw the fiasco that ensued from the flotation of Eircom. We in Sinn Féin will vigorously oppose the privatisation of State companies, such as Aer Lingus and the ESB and the destruction of these vital pillars of our economy. We will campaign in defence of the jobs of workers in the State sector and against the stripping of national assets for the enrichment of a handful of private individuals for whom the national interest counts for nothing.

During the general election campaign, Fianna Fáil promised to end hospital waiting lists within two years. That was a promise with no credibility, given the massive waiting lists presided over by the Government for the past five years and the fact that it took most of that time for the Government to produce its health strategy, let alone implement it. In the new programme for Government, this commitment to end waiting lists in two years is not even mentioned. Having served its purpose during the election campaign, it has now been binned and is surely the most glaring omission from the programme to which this incoming Government is ostensibly committed.

One of the commitments in the programme is to the development of acute hospital services on a balanced regional basis. The experience of the people of County Monaghan has been one of massive regional imbalance and the downgrading of services in our general hospital. The needs and wishes of the people of County Monaghan have been repeatedly ignored. The people of Dundalk have the same experience and I and my party colleagues know at first hand the deplorable state of the health services as they affect the people of our respective constituencies. Every Deputy in this House knows that health was a primary issue in the general election and I urge the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Micheál Martin, to listen to the voice of the people, which he has heard repeatedly over a number of years, and to work with everybody in this House, with the health service workers, service users, community groups and representatives and with the health boards to transform our health system. Nothing less will do and if we are to have services based on health needs and not on wealth and ability to pay then the two-tier system must be ended.

I deplore the lack of priority given to housing by the programme for the incoming Government. For five years, the Government presided over rising house prices and rising local authority waiting lists. That situation is worse now than in 1997, when I came into this House as a Deputy for the first time. Those on average incomes are priced out of the housing market. They continue to join lower income families on the growing waiting lists. Only a major public housing programme can really address the housing crisis, a crisis the outgoing Government failed even to acknowledge.

The programme for Government has, of course, some positive new commitments which I welcome, including the section on motor insurance. We await the detail of these proposals and look forward to the long overdue relief for those who are being fleeced by the insurance companies, and not only on motor insurance. A new Department of Transport is positive but we must ask why this was not done before. Public transport was not given the top priority it needed by the outgoing Government. I hope the new Minister places it at the top of the agenda and delivers. I very sincerely wish Deputy Séamus Brennan well in his new posting.

While there are some positive elements, as I have said, the overall programme which this new Cabinet will seek to implement is more of the same – more of the same inequality, more of the same division in our society between the privileged and the marginalised and, clearly, looking at the line up here earlier this afternoon, more of the same Ministers also. There is little vision and little sense of real commitment. It is no wonder that the outgoing Government spent an unprecedented €313 million on consultants. There was no real commitment to the public services as the cutting edge for delivery of real change. What we had was indecision and a lack of ideas and determination on the part of an Administration which had to run to expensive consultancy firms at every turn to look for inspiration.

In conclusion, I and my colleagues in the Sinn Féin team wish the individual nominees well and I extend special good wishes to the new Government Chief Whip, Deputy Mary Hanafin. I hope she will move speedily to resolve the injustice of the denial of due recognition to Sinn Féin, the Green Party and the body of Independent Deputies in this House. We look forward to working with each of the new Ministers. That said, we will not be supporting this Cabinet on the basis, as I have already outlined, of its flawed programme for Government.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh:

Cuireann sé áthas mór orm labhairt anseo inniu mar Theachta don céad uair. Ba mhaith liom ar dtús mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leo siúd ar fad a thug cabhair dom agus a chaith vóta dom chun na honóra seo bheith bronnta orm bheith mar Theachta sa Teach seo. Measaim go bhfuil sé tábhachtach go bhfuil beirt Theachta ó Sinn Féin tofa do Bhaile Átha Cliath, príomh cathair na tíre seo. Is sa chathair seo a thosnaíonn a lán de na fadhbanna atá againn, na fadhbanna atáim ag díriú isteach orthu.

Níl mise ná mo pháirtí sásta leis an Rialtas atá an Teachta Bertie Ahern tar éis a chur le chéile. Nílimid sásta leis an gclár Rialtais atá curtha le chéile ag Fianna Fáil agus an bPáirtí Daonlathach. Ní thugann an clár faoi fhadbhanna mhóra na tíre. Ba chóir go mbeadh an Rialtas ag díriú isteach ar na fadhbanna atá againn agus ag déanamh cinnte de go mbeidh cothromas ceart i réim inár dtír. Níor tharla sin le cúig bliain anuas agus is oth liom a rá go bhfuil cuma ar an scéal nach dtarlóidh sé ins na blianta atá romhainn.

I mo dháilcheantair féin tá ceantracha ina bhfuil an fhadhb is mó drugaí in Éirinn nó san Eoraip. Cheana féin tá an tríú ghlúin anois gafa le drugaí. Tá ceantracha agus clainne iomláin scriosta dá bharr ach níl gné práinneach déanta den ghéarchéim seo sa chlár Rialtais. Cá bhfuil leigheas ar an bhfadhb seo, ar an mbochtanas, ar an easpa oideachais, nó ar an easpa ionad spóirt nó ionaid pobail? Cá bhfuil an infheistíocht is gá chun na ceantracha seo a thógaint suas go leibhéal an chéad domhain?

Níl sé ró-dhéanach ag an Rialtas athrú a dhéanamh, ach má leantar leis an gclár Rialtais seo agus leis na polasaithe a bhí ag an seanRialtas, is iad na daoine is boichte inár Stát a bhéas thíos leis.

Ní gá dúinn ach féachaint ar na gearrtha siar scanallacha i scéimeanna CE atá fógraithe le mí anuas. De thairbhe na gearrtha sin tá scéimeanna samhraidh do pháistí, béilí do shean daoine, agus a lán scéimeanna ana-thábhachtacha chun dúnadh ins na ceantracha is boichte, na ceantracha is mó atá ag brath ar chuidiú ón Stát. Cad faoi na geartha siar atá buailte ar ionad Naomh Eoin le Dia do pháistí le máclaí i nDroichead an Oileáin. Tá ar an ionad a chlár oibre a ghearradh siar agus an plean forbartha a chur ar an tseilf athuair.

Mar is gnáth tá Fianna Fáil chomh dáiríre sin faoin teanga náisiúnta nach bhfuil Aire Ghaeilge ann. Fós féín, tá mé sásta comhghairdeas a ghabháil le Éamon Ó Cuív as an Aireacht nua atá aige agus as na dualgais nua atá os a chomhair. Tá mé ag súil le bheith ag obair leis chun Bille na Gaeilge a thabhairt os comhair na Dála agus chun leasaithe a mholadh a dhéanfaidh an Bille níos éifeachtaí maidir le cearta Gaeilgeoirí agus cearta mhuintir na Gaeltachta.

Is scanallach an rud é go bhfuil an Rialtas ag dul ar aghaidh leis an dara reifreann ar Chonradh Nice. Beidh Sinn Féin ag cur i gcoinne an reifrinn sin go láidir. Táimíd ar son leathnú ar an Aontas Eorpach mar ghrúpa stát neamhspleách agus ní mar ollstát míleata. Má chuirfear an conradh os comhair na ndaoine ath-uair is cinnte go dteipfidh air. Déanfaidh mé mo dhicheall chun féachaint go dtarlóidh sin.

Ms McManus:

I wish to share my time with Deputy Rabbitte.

An Ceann Comhairle:

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Ms McManus:

I congratulate you, Sir, on your election as Ceann Comhairle. I also congratulate my colleague, Deputy Roche, on his appointment. When he looks to Europe I promise him encouragement so that he will not lose sight of the needs of those in County Wicklow.

The programme for Government has been finalised, the Taoiseach has been appointed to office and the members of the Cabinet have been nominated for appointment. The process has taken some time but we are now at the point where it is possible to assess what it has offered those who participated in the election and who now look to the Government to see what it has to offer.

What does the Government's programme offer the public health patient who is waiting for hospital treatment? What does it offer an over-stretched nurse who is trying to cope in a maternity or accident and emergency ward or a carer who feels ignored, neglected and taken advantage of? The answer is a lot of hype but not much hope.

The Government is made up of the two parties that comprised the previous Government, led by the same Taoiseach and Tánaiste and coloured by the same centre right bias as the previous one. A few changes to the make-up of the Cabinet do not constitute real change. Most of those on the outside looking in would recognise that the changes in departmental arrangements do not mean that the Cabinet changes have been significant. Today could be described as a political version of Groundhog Day in that there is the same outlook, leadership and opportunism.

It may be true to say that the Government cannot be faulted on the grounds of inconsistency, but the record shows that the previous Government showed a consistent disregard for the promises it made to the people. Already, with remarkable speed, consistent disregard of the promises made to the people has become the hallmark of this Government.

In its programme the previous Government promised to tackle hospital waiting lists but it failed to do so. Far from shortening, the waiting lists increased from 29,000 people in March 1997 to almost 37,000 in January 1999. Even the latest figure of over 26,000 people waiting for hospital procedures has been shown to be false. New statistics published by the CSO have exposed the under estimate, whether deliberate or otherwise, of the number of people waiting for in-patient treatment. A shocking number – 1.6% of the population – is waiting for in-patient treatment. As far as it can be calculated, that amounts to approximately 44,800 people. Apart from a major discrepancy in that number, the service also shows that over 100,000 people are waiting for out-patient appointments, while over 100,000 are waiting for an appointment to see a consultant. These are the hidden numbers of those waiting to get on a hospital waiting list. That is the record of the previous Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats Government.

Often those waiting are in pain. They include the elderly who suffer as they wait for a hip replacement, those who cannot see properly because of eye cataracts and cancer patients waiting for treatment. They all created enough pressure during the general election campaign to make health the big issue. The Labour Party responded to this challenge by spelling out the investment in the reforms needed to tackle hospital waiting lists and to end the two tier health system, which discriminates in favour of the affluent against the sick and the poor.

Fianna Fáil responded by making a firm commitment to the people. Its general election manifesto stated: "In Government, Fianna Fáil will permanently end waiting lists in our hospitals within two years." On 6 May, the Taoiseach repeated this undertaking at a press conference, yet a few weeks later he has, like a previous commitment, jettisoned a solemn promise made to the people that those in pain and suffering will no longer suffer needlessly while they wait for hospital care. With the general election over it is clear these people no longer matter.

Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats have returned to power but they have torn up their manifesto promises and replaced them with fudge. There is nothing in the programme for Government which will meet the suffering and pain experienced by those waiting for treatment. The apartheid within the health service will endure. That is thanks to Fianna Fáil.

The development of a world class health service, described as a core objective in the programme for Government, is a sad joke. It is not possible to provide such a service unless the nature of the present service is confronted. Nor is it possible to tackle the waiting lists unless the service is changed to one providing care on the basis of need and not income.

I wish the Minister for Health well. He will need all the luck he can get. In the previous Government he simply had to talk about delivery but he must now do the business. As Minister for Health and Children in the previous Administration Deputy Martin increased rather than reduced inequality in the health service. We on this side of the House and in the Labour Party will ensure that the issues relating to health and the rights of people, regardless of income, will not be forgotten in this new Dáil.

Mr. Rabbitte:

I congratulate you, Sir, on your appointment. As Leas-Cheann Comhairle you were fair but now that the Government has an overall majority I hope you will be twice as fair. I also congratulate the Taoiseach. Given his considerable achievement, today must be an exhilarating one for him. I had the opportunity to be his opposite number when he was Minister for Labour and Minister for Finance and to serve under his benign hegemony for the last five years. I am a long-time admirer of his political skill and I wish him well.

There have been a number of fall outs from the Cabinet. I do not know why I tend to compare Deputy Michael Woods to Zsa Zsa Gabor. Members will remember that Zsa Zsa Gabor once said she was a great housekeeper; she had been married five times and kept the house on each occasion. Deputy Woods is like that – he has been through five Governments and has managed to hold on each time. Inevitably, however, it would come to this. Deputy Smith now seems to be taking up that mantle and I wish him well.

I wish the new Ministers well. If the arts flourish under Deputy O'Donoghue in the manner that crime flourished during his time as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, there will be a blossoming of the arts the like of which we have never seen before. The Taoiseach promised us a new direction on Nice and a more successful referendum, but that was before Deputy Roche was given responsibility for it.

Much of the Tánaiste's contribution concentrated on the economy. For all the criticism of consensus politics, there is very little difference in the House on industrial strategy and the factors that contributed to the economic boom, including investment in education. It is inappropriate therefore to single out the performance of the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil. The Tánaiste said it is a matter of great pride when she goes abroad and I can understand that. The problem is that many Irish people cannot afford to come home and for those who emigrated in bad times and who have fallen on hard times abroad, the last Government, in a time of plenty, did very little for them. We could have done more and ought to do more.

The main missed opportunity of the last Government was the failure to tackle inequality. There were considerable achievements – I do not deny that. The general election is over. In a time of such economic prosperity there could not be other than considerable achievements. Unfortunately division and inequality increased and there was no decision to transfer significant resources to marginalised communities where there is multifaceted deprivation.

Deputy Bruton dealt with education. Education is still the great transmitter of privilege in this society. In parts of my constituency the school drop-out rate is higher than 20% and the extent of school non-attendance is over 20%. Those kids have little chance in the modern economy. The extent to which these communities are plagued by antisocial behaviour cannot be exaggerated. These inequalities persist after five years of economic boom and, therefore, in more uncertain economic times, I am not clear how the Government will tackle these issues.

Reading the programme for Government, it appears the Progressive Democrats are guests in power. There is nothing distinctive from the party in the programme. There is nothing explicit about privatisation, benchmarking, Abbotstown or tax cuts for the better off. They are guests in power because the Taoiseach has other options open to him. Being the Taoiseach, with his innate caution, he has put a small number of Fianna Fáil minded Independents in the position of a spare wheel in the boot in case he has to rely on them if anything happens with the Progressive Democrats.

The area where the Progressive Democrats can bring influence to bear on Government is at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which is overdue for reform. I welcome the appointment of Deputy McDowell to that Department. The Garda Síochána must recognise that reform is in its interests as much as it is in society's interests. I regret that there is an evolving mood that suggests the Garda Síochána is the prerogative of one political party. That would be bad for society and bad for the gardaí. The alienation evident in working class communities from the Garda Síochána is a very serious matter and we must examine why there is such alienation among the young and if any share of the blame is attached to the manner in which the gardaí are managed and do their job. The new Minister has an onerous task.

I am not sure what the distinction is between a Garda inspectorate and a Garda ombudsman. The phrase in the programme for Government states that there will be a Garda inspectorate with the powers of an ombudsman. Does that just mean that one cannot leave these decisions to one person and there should be more than one person involved? It is, however, an area in urgent need of reform because there are entire tracts in urban areas that are alienated from the Garda Síochána and that is bad for this society and especially bad for the unfortunate people who live under the ferule of young thugs and antisocial behaviour that pockmark parts of this and other cities. I hope the new Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform will tackle that.

I am not clear how wide the remit of the unified Department of Transport is, although I welcome it. It is evident that the national development plan was not politically driven in the lifetime of the last Government. It has fallen behind by as much as 18 months, has not had the necessary driving force behind it and has not pro vided for inflation. It will fall short of its targets. Public transport has been left in chaos, with no visible evidence of improvement. Does the new Minister have any remit in that area? It does not seem he has and that is regrettable.

The return of the same parties to Government has implications for our democracy and society. I have concerns about the hegemony of Fianna Fáil over Irish politics. The continued presence of Fianna Fáil in office is bad for this polity and I do not detect from the Tánaiste's remarks that it will act as a counterbalance within the Government. Former Deputy O'Malley's exit from the House also removed the counterbalancing factor from the Progressive Democrats. The Tánaiste went out of her way to say she never raised the question of trust in politics.

Mr. Ardagh:

I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on his appointment and I support the motion for the nomination of the Cabinet. I congratulate the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste on bringing together a coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. I hope it is as successful as the last Government. I was proud to be associated with a Government that was so successful.

I am delighted that the Tánaiste will continue as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It was in that Department that hundreds of thousands of new jobs were created – some say 340,000 were created, while others claim the number was 400,000.

Mr. J. Bruton:

It depends on how late it is in the evening at a cumann meeting.

Mr. Ardagh:

In that case we will accept 370,000 as an in-between figure. There is much to be done in that we must maintain the competitiveness of Irish industry. The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment will have her hands full to ensure that all the new jobs that have been created in those industries remain competitive and remain in place. The number of jobs must also be increased in the years to come.

The Minister for Defence, Deputy Michael Smith, worked very hard in the consolidation of that Department throughout the country and I congratulate him on his re-appointment. We all know the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Deputy Walsh, because of the way he looked after the foot and mouth disease crisis.

Mr. Crawford:

He is brilliant.

Mr. Ardagh:

The Minister, Deputy Walsh, is very highly regarded and the honour that was bestowed on him recently by France, when it was announced that he will be awarded the Legion d'Honneur, is testament to the respect in which he is held not only in Ireland, but throughout Europe.

Mr. Rabbitte:

Cherchez la vache.

Mr. Ardagh:

When we went around the various constituencies it was evident how satisfied the electorate was with the policies that were adopted and put in place by the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, over the past five years. He will have his work cut out for him to ensure that the same level of satisfaction is there in five years.

Mr. M. Higgins:

The knight of the order of Margaret Thatcher.

Mr. Ardagh:

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, together with the Taoiseach, the former Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and former Deputy David Andrews before that, did much work in regard to peace in Northern Ireland.

I do not have time to read the litany of Ministers here, all of whom have worked tremendously well and have proven themselves over the past five years. The new Ministers include Deputies Séamus Brennan, Cullen, Coughlan and Ó Cuív. I wish them well. They are very competent and able people who will work hard.

I could not miss out on mentioning Deputy Michael McDowell, the new Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I had the great honour and privilege of being the Chairman of the Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights and I know the work and effort required of the Minister in that Department. That is the most onerous of all the Departments and I wish him well in his new task.

The former Ministers who no longer hold portfolios, Deputies Woods, Fahey, de Valera and McDaid, know that occasionally somebody must move over to make way for other people. They did not make it onto this list this time but beidh lá eile ann.

As far as the former deputy leader of our party, Senator O'Rourke, is concerned, I am sorry that she did not get elected but I am sure that otherwise she would be at the top of this list. I fully support the motion—

Mr. Rabbitte:

She is still the deputy leader and the Deputy would want to be very careful.

Mr. Ardagh:

—and I look forward to hard work, commitment and great success from all the Ministers who have been appointed.

Mr. Mulcahy:

I am delighted to have this opportunity at the commencement of the 29th Dáil to urge Dáil Éireann to ratify the proposed members of the Government. Each and every one of them is an experienced parliamentarian and there is no doubt that each of them shares the passion and enthusiasm for public service that the Taoiseach so eloquently spoke about this morning.

The recent election gave all of us and the public a chance to participate in a debate on the vital issues affecting the nation. These issues include the economy, the health service, the education system, law and order, the environment and community development. I must report that while there was widespread praise of and satisfaction with the outgoing Government, concern was also voiced about many of the issues discussed in the Chamber today. For example, people are concerned that we should have an efficient, modern, humane and equitable health service and everybody will agree that the level of patient care should always improve and develop. However, people also clearly understand that huge extra financial resources have been put into the health system in recent years and they also understand that there is a direct link between public expenditure and taxation. Shortly stated, to increase one, one must increase the other.

I strongly urge the House to support the nomination of Deputy Martin as Minister for Health and Children. As Minister in the previous Government, he displayed extraordinary flair and professionalism in mastering every aspect and detail of the health brief, from new developments in health to dealing with the various professional bodies and trades unions, his campaign against tobacco advertising, successfully obtaining the large increase in public spending in the health service and the implementation of the health strategy.

I reject out of hand Deputy Quinn's assertion that Fianna Fáil needs a watchdog but now has a lapdog in the form of the Progressive Democrats. The Progressive Democrats Members of this Dáil will speak for themselves, given their independence of thought and action, and they need no defence in this matter from me—

Mr. J. Bruton:

They should be very worried that the Deputy is coming to their defence. With friends like that, one does not need enemies.

Mr. Mulcahy:

—but it is insulting, both to the outgoing Government and to the incoming Government, to suggest that they need the hot breath of a watchdog down their necks. The plain fact is that the people of Ireland elected 81 Fianna Fáil Deputies to this House and many of them do not own yachts.

Mr. Ring:

Which spin doctor wrote that?

Mr. J. Bruton:

Is the Deputy the only one who does?

An Ceann Comhairle:

Deputy Mulcahy without interruption.

Mr. Mulcahy:

It is arrogant in the extreme for Deputy Rabbitte to speak of the political hegemony of Fianna Fáil in office. It is arrogant because it second guesses the choice of the people in the recent election. As the Taoiseach so clearly set out this morning, the plain fact of the matter is that nobody in this House has a monopoly on caring. Is it being suggested that simply because Fianna Fáil has the capability and honesty to make clear-headed decisions for the betterment of our society and the most practical use and distribution of our resources, it is somehow uncaring? I would say the opposite is the case, that those who do not have the courage to make courageous decisions on behalf of their constituents are the ones who would in the end do their constituents a grave disservice.

On the Taoiseach's proposal to set up a new dedicated Department of Transport to fully integrate transport policy, the commitment to provide high quality transport services and to tackle existing bottlenecks and congestion is a mighty task and I am sure the House agrees that Deputy Séamus Brennan is more than equal to the task.

As a member of a local authority since 1985, I congratulate Deputy Cullen on his appointment to the Department of the Environment and Local Government. We can all be confident that Deputy Cullen will expand and develop the initiatives started by the previous Government and, in particular, by the previous Minister, Deputy Dempsey. The introduction of waste management strategies, the tax on plastic bags and the introduction of directly elected cathaoirligh of local authorities in 2004 are some of the hallmarks of the last Government's achievements in this area. The Taoiseach has made it clear that Deputy Cullen, as Minister for the Environment and Local Government, will actively pursue policies in support of environmental sustainability, the fight against global climate change and the fight against Sellafield, issues which concern every person in this House.

I also add my voice to those of others wishing Deputy Cowen well in his second term of office as Minister for Foreign Affairs. The introduction of a special Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs to assist a "Yes" vote on the European treaty is a very good idea. There will be a very big debate in this House on the Treaty of Nice, but the comments made by Deputy Ó Caoláin in regard to the treaty would send a shudder down the spine of every decent person in Poland, Hungary, Cyprus and other would-be members of the European Union who should be fully supported in their attempts to become members of the European Union. If that is what Sinn Féin is talking about in terms of principled decision making, it has a long way to travel.

Mr. J. Bruton:

The Deputy does not have to look as far as Sinn Féin.

Mr. Mulcahy:

I welcome the appointment of Deputy McDowell as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. He is a very fine senior counsel and he will be an excellent Minister. I also welcome and pay tribute to Mr. Rory Brady SC as the new Attorney General. As Chairman of the Bar Council, he has helped to modernise that body. He will be an extremely good Attorney General. I commend the nominations to the House.

Mr. C. Lenihan:

I suppose I should begin by congratulating my colleague, Deputy Rabbitte, on his prescience in recognising some months, or perhaps even a year ago, that there was no point in him offering himself to serve within a Fianna Fáil coalition Government. He obviously saw before everybody else that the Labour Party would not be in power and would not form a coalition with Fianna Fáil and he decided, rightly or wrongly, that he would refuse to serve in a Fianna Fáil Government should my party offer to form a coalition with the Labour Party. He is a great and very prescient observer and analyst of the political scene and well done to him. He spotted that we would not need the Labour Party in the end and that the public did not want the Labour Party in Government. In a profound sense, it wanted Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats back in power and those are the basic arithmetic results of this general election.

A very unfortunate phrase used by one of our Ministers was that the people voted out the Opposition in this election. It was an extraordinary result. Fine Gael, as we see opposite, is in totally reduced circumstances and occupies two benches of this House when it proudly occupied three or four benches previously. This is an appalling situation for a once great party which could have pretensions to being an Opposition party on its own and, indeed, under Garret FitzGerald, it came dangerously close to it from a Fianna Fáil perspective. Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats are back in power and that is what the people voted for. Some of the speeches this afternoon failed to recognise that underlying reality of politics in 2002. The people voted for this Government and Fine Gael is still struggling with that basic problem. It does not understand how it can oppose this Government. I feel a certain sympathy for Fine Gael because there are lots of more radical voices, far more radical than it, sitting to its right and left, be they Independents, Sinn Féin, Greens or, indeed, the Labour Party, which have clear policies and a clear identity. Fine Gael has no identity whatsoever and that is the chief cause of its failure in the general election. It has nothing to do with its leader, with Deputy John Bruton or Deputy Noonan and it will have nothing to do with Deputy Kenny either when it fails again in the next general election. It has to work out where it stands. Half the party are social democrats and the other half are right of centre types calling themselves Christian democrats. It will not survive in the long run. It should iron out its view on where it stands and should then come up with a decent line of opposition to this Government.

I congratulate the Taoiseach on the manner in which he has appointed different people to this Government and has brought in new faces – people who have served their time as Ministers of State and know exactly how the process of Government works. I particularly congratulate him on the innovation as promised in our election manifesto of integrating transport and traffic into one Department. That was an excellent idea. The other idea, which is very good and is a great portent for the future, is the appointment of Deputy Ó Cuív as Minister responsible for community and local development. These are areas about which Deputy Rabbitte would know, that is, the whole area of local development and its interaction with the development of the drugs task forces. It is an area which needs full Cabinet recognition and it has received that with the appointment of Deputy Ó Cuív. Now the drugs issue is top of the agenda, and at the Cabinet table, where it rightly belongs. The other innovation, and I speak as someone with some interest and expertise in this area as an adviser to Esat Digifone, is the new ministry which Deputy Dermot Ahern will hold with an emphasis on telecommunications and the development of broadband infrastructure and the energy and resource issues which flow from that. This is another innovation which was badly needed and well overdue.

I bring my remarks to a conclusion by addressing the issue of Deputy McDowell and his marvellous stroke during the election which managed, in some people's minds anyway, to deprive Fianna Fáil of a majority. If he did, it was a great stroke and we have to applaud it. I trust and hope that as this Government develops in the next few years, he will curtail his rhetoric about the Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil and be a good and loyal servant of the Government as he was as Attorney General. I hope he tackles the problems of street crime and the rising levels in certain categories of crime. I know he will put his mind to that and that rhetoric about Ceausescu is now at an end.

Mr. J. Bruton:

I wish to share my time with Deputy Crawford. The key weakness in the Government programme, as the Fine Gael leader, Deputy Kenny, pointed out, is that it has not been costed. The American writer Henry Adams once said that practical politics consists of ignoring facts. The reality is that as far as the nation's finances are concerned, the practical politicians of the last Dáil ignored the facts. If current trends are maintained, the opening current budget deficit for next year will be €3 billion, coming close to 2.5% of GDP and to the growth and stability pact limit of 3%. My first challenge to the Taoiseach, therefore, is twofold. What is the Government's present estimate of the opening current budget deficit for the 2003 budget which it will have to introduce four months from now? What is the Department of Finance's costing of the programme for Government? If the Department of Finance has not been asked to do an estimate of the cost, why was it not asked to do so given that the Government parties were so happy to use the Department of Finance facilities to devise questions about the costs of the programmes of the parties in Opposition during the general election campaign?

It has been said by a noted United States economists, John Kenneth Galbraith, that politics is not the art of the possible, it is that of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. Because of its weak handling of the nation's finances, this spendthrift Government will soon have to introduce a budget which makes a choice between the disastrous and the unpalatable. I hope it will have the courage to choose the latter. I also hope that if forced to face the unpalatable, this Government does not start to blame the European Union or Ireland's solemn commitments to the EU under the treaties in respect of the growth and stability pact for the unpalatable things it may work up the courage to do in the national interest.

I read through the programme for Government, which is a very patchy document. I commend the Government for the ambitious objectives it has set itself in respect of reducing insurance costs. The attack on exaggerated claims, on no foal, no fee advertising by solicitors and the proposal for mandatory mediation and control of legal costs are most welcome, but will some of these changes require an amendment of the Constitution? If so, why has that not been stated in the programme for Government?

On other topics, however, the programme is exceptionally weak. The national spatial strategy which would have chosen some towns but not others for development of vital urban facilities has been postponed for reasons of political cowardice. How, for example, is it possible to plan our hospital, road and rail network if we do not know which towns are being chosen for development? The failure to make those decisions has facilitated the election of local interest Independent Deputies in unprecedented numbers to this House, a development which, notwithstanding the merits of the individuals concerned, is bad for Irish democracy. As Edmund Burke said: "parties must ever exist in a free country". Parties organise opinion, take the national view and ensure equality of sacrifice and fairness of distribution of its fruits across the whole nation while Independent local interest Deputies cannot do so because of their mandate.

There is another aspect of the general election result on which other Members of this House have been strangely silent, that is, the election of five Deputies from a party which is linked to a private army. I realise Sinn Féin got votes from many young people – young people who do not remember Enniskillen, Tom Oliver and Jerry McCabe. We are, the programme for Government tells us, to have accountability for the murders of Pat Finucane, Robert Hamill and Rosemary Nelson, and rightly so. Why then are we not to have accountability for all the killings committed by the Provisional IRA, the UVF and the UDA? Why not have a truth and reconciliation commission like in South Africa for all the killings of the last 30 years? That said, I hope Sinn Féin's success in the general election – it was a considerable success – will give it the confidence at last either to get the IRA to disarm or to disown and disavow it. It was the great Irish patriot, John Philpot Curran, who said: "the condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance". As far as the political paramilitaries and their allies in this House are concerned, I for one intend to provide that vigilance.

I note the Government is proposing a constitutional amendment to limit the right of people born in Ireland to Irish citizenship reversing a provision of the Good Friday Agreement to curb third country immigration.

I note that it wants to draw the Opposition into this with it. I warn the Government that it is its duty to govern and come forward with specific proposals. Given that we offer generous citizenship rights to people of Irish ancestry who are born abroad, it will be extremely difficult to devise legislation aimed at curbing the citizenship rights of people who are born in this country unless we introduce a specifically ethnic element to our Constitution. Other countries, such as Germany, have done this. However, the Government should be fully aware of the difficulties involved in drafting such legislation.

The Government wishes to promote the concept of voluntarism in sport. How is this reconciled with the extension of outrageously generous tax relief to extremely rich professional sports people in the most recent budget? What message did that send to volunteers?

The wails coming from the Green Party and other small parties in this House regarding speaking rights are entirely bogus. Every Deputy elected to this House has an equal mandate. Some 31 Fine Gael Deputies have five times the mandate of six Green Party TDs. On that basis, Fine Gael is perfectly entitled to five times as much speaking time. That is democracy.

Mr. Crawford:

I congratulate the Taoiseach and all those who have been nominated to high office today and I commiserate with those who have, for whatever reason, been deemed no longer suitable for such positions. As one who was on the brink of defeat in the election, I understand how it feels to be left out at least for a short few hours anyway. I thank those Ministers who have lost their positions for the work that they have done over the past five years.

I have a great interest in the Department of Transport. That Deputy Séamus Brennan has been appointed Minister of this Department causes me some anxiety. There is a major transport problem in Dublin. In recent times, the bulk of the money available to the National Roads Authority has been spent in this city. Over the past five years, no money of any consequence has been spent in the BMW region. The new Minister, Deputy Brennan, must take account of the needs of this area, particularly the Border area, which has suffered so much as a result of the trials and tribulations in Northern Ireland.

The environment is also an important issue. In the 1990s, some laws were passed in Europe that have had a major impact on rural Ireland, especially on farmers. Very little has been done about these laws. While I welcome Deputy Martin Cullen to the Department of the Environment and Local Government, I warn him that he must work closely with his colleague, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Deputy Joe Walsh and the farming population as a whole in order to determine how nitrate objectives are reached. As far as commercial farming is concerned, these are very serious issues. Given the numbers of families who are leaving farming today, we cannot ignore the needs of these people while working within the European levels. The European Community is coming down hard on us because we failed to deal with these problems. They are insisting that we now implement rules that we should have implemented over the past 12 years.

The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is a new Department. Having been briefly involved with Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív in his capacity as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, I see him as a person committed to this sort of development. However, I am concerned by the Taoiseach's reference to "western development" in his speech. The CLÁR programme deals mainly with the West, as does the LEADER programme. What is to become of the Border region? Is it going to be left out and made to suffer again? I put the Government on notice that I will ensure this does not happen because the Border region has suffered more than any other in recent times.

I wish to raise the issue of long-serving Ministers, notably Deputy Joe Walsh. He has been at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development for a very long time, both as a Minister of State and as a senior Minister. He is a very nice man with whom we worked closely during the foot and mouth crisis although he got all the credit. Nevertheless, a good job was done and I do not take that from him. However, I question the Taoiseach's judgment in leaving anyone in the same Department for so long.

Mr. J. Bruton:

Hear, hear.

Mr. Crawford:

As I said earlier today, five of the 11 agricultural colleges in this country have been closed in the past few years. There are six left but how many will remain at the end of the next five years if we do not have some new thinking in this area? Who is going to carry a commercial agricultural industry into the next ten to 20 years if colleges continue to close? There is no forward thinking in this area. We hear many pious comments in the programme for Government and I feel sorry for Deputy Walsh that this programme offers nothing for agriculture. It is obvious that the media realised that there is nothing substantial—

Mr. J. Bruton:

The Deputy is absolutely right. There is nothing substantial in the programme about agriculture, just words without meaning.

Mr. Crawford:

Pious platitudes. I hope that when the Taoiseach appoints a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, he brings innovation into it. The organisation that stays still dies.

In the programme for Government, it is stated that there is to be a Government and diplomatic offensive to open and re-open world markets. I remember when Deputies Walsh, Bertie Ahern and Cowen, as members of the Opposition, stated that they would organise a diplomatic offensive, that they would fly everywhere and open the markets—

Mr. Rabbitte:

That is an oxymoron.

Mr. Crawford:

We have not seen much benefit from that policy. Is this the best that Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats can come up with in a programme for Government? As a former leader of the IFA, Deputy Tom Parlon was very close to Minister Joe Walsh, yet no real commitment is given to farming in this programme. For the past five years, we have listened to promises to tackle red tape and now we are hearing the same promises again. Last November, the Minister, Deputy Walsh, told us of the great advances he had made in Brussels. However, as he himself said, he returned with greater fines and more bureaucracy.

The disadvantaged areas are to be extended to the whole BMW region, which of course takes in Laoighis-Offaly. However, there is no mention of the rightful needs of County Monaghan, for instance. The Ceann Comhairle knows this. There is no word of extension of resources to areas in which they are most needed. No doubt Deputy Parlon had a major role in that.

I am delighted Deputy McDowell has been appointed Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I hope he can redress the things that happened in that Department in recent years. It is clear that a policy of zero tolerance was not practised there. We look forward to Deputy McDowell's involvement not only in cleaning up the streets of Dublin, Limerick and elsewhere but also in ensuring that people in rural areas can live in safety and comfort.

Mr. McHugh:

I wish to share time with Deputies Harkin and Cowley.

An Ceann Comhairle:

The Deputy is sharing time with Deputies Harkin and Cowley.

Mr. McHugh:

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhghairdeas a ghabháil leis an Cheann Chomhairle.

Having been honoured by the people of Galway East to represent them in the 29th Dáil, it is my intention to bring forth at every opportunity the issues affecting my constituents. While abiding by the wishes of the Chair, it is appropri ate that the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and incoming Government should be put on notice of those concerns and, despite what Deputy John Bruton said about Independent Deputies, I make no apologies for doing so.

The issues to which I refer involve basic requirements and rights, many of which have been ignored for a long period. Adequate water and sewerage services, decent national schools and decent national secondary roads are necessities which many communities take for granted. That is not so in Galway East where there has been a disgraceful lack of investment in those basic requirements. At the same time, however, infrastructural developments such as telecommunication masts and landfills are being foisted on the people without proper regard to their health and welfare. I call on the incoming Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, to examine the contents of a recent report, carried out by Trinity College, on the harmful effects of landfills on people's health and to put in place appropriate safeguards.

I represent a rural community and I wish to place on record, for the benefit of the incoming Government, the need for a structured, integrated rural development programme to lift rural Ireland out of its time-warp. In doing so, I acknowledge the inherent merits of the CLÁR programme put in place by the previous Government and nurtured by the outgoing Minister of State, Deputy Ó Cuív. However, this programme was so restricted in scope and so inadequately funded that it proved largely ineffective. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the new Government owe it to rural Ireland to discriminate positively to address the infrastructural deficit experienced by rural communities. In that regard, I congratulate Deputy Ó Cuív, who represents the neighbouring constituency of Galway West, on his elevation to high office. The Deputy's feet are firmly rooted in rural Ireland and he understands the concerns and issues affecting rural communities. I look forward to his input into the deliberations of the Cabinet. I can say with all sincerity that rural Ireland will be much better off as a result of his inclusion in Government. I also welcome the establishment of the new Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

I am glad the programme for Government contains a commitment to the introduction, as a matter of urgency, of measures to implement the recent recommendations contained in the motor insurance industry report. It is time that the penal level of premiums charged to young drivers was brought to an end. More attention needs to be paid to the business insurance sector, because the increase in premiums for employers and the self-employed is putting job creation at risk.

People with disabilities and carers in the home are continually striving for changes to be implemented in order to improve their quality of life and standard of living. If the incoming Government wishes to nurture the image of Ireland as a caring society, it needs to address the deficits relating to people with disabilities and carers as a matter of urgency.

I say to the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, that the programme of decentralisation has been on the back-burner for too long. It is time decisions were made and implemented. The decentralisation programme should again be used to address the regional imbalance and areas which have experienced neglect should be given priority. I refer, for example, to Tuam and Ballinasloe in my constituency which were recently identified as being among the ten most disadvantaged towns in the country and are prime locations for decentralisation.

As a Deputy representing Galway East, it would be remiss of me not to bring to the attention of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, the position of Tuam hospital which has been closed for a year. Taxpayers' money has been invested in the hospital but it remains closed. I ask that the Government give priority to making resources available so that it can be re-opened as a matter of urgency.

I congratulate the Deputies who have been nominated for appointment as Ministers.

Ms Harkin:

I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on his appointment and I wish him a successful term of office. On a personal level, I congratulate Deputy Bertie Ahern on his re-election as Taoiseach and Deputy Harney on her nomination as Tánaiste. I wish the Government well during the lifetime of this new Dáil. I also congratulate Deputy Kenny on his election as the new leader of Fine Gael. I earnestly hope that the realisation of balanced regional development, incorporating western development, will figure high on his list of priorities.

I am conscious of the honour and privilege bestowed on me by the people of Sligo-Leitrim, who elected me to serve as their Teachta Dála or messenger to the Dáil. I thank them for this opportunity and I will undertake my task with enthusiasm, commitment and a genuine sense of purpose.

As an Independent Deputy for my constituency, promoting the economic and social development of Sligo and Leitrim will be my priority, although I believe that many of the issues I intend to pursue, contrary to Deputy John Bruton's assertion, will be of national significance as well as of local importance.

I call on Deputy Brennan, if it falls within his remit as Minister for Transport, immediately to publish the national spatial strategy. The latter must promote and guarantee the development of all regions and include measures such as decentralisation, the naming of Sligo town as a gateway or conduit for development of the north-west – in conjunction with the programme for the economic and social regeneration of smaller towns – and the provision of infrastructure and access to Leitrim and Sligo. It must also ensure that the balance between urban and rural development is promoted and must pursue a positive approach to the issue of planning permission in rural areas. Such a strategy would benefit Sligo and Leitrim and would equally benefit all other regions in this State.

Other issues of national importance and local relevance include the means test for carers which, in my opinion, should be abolished and I call on the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, to deal with this immediately. I call on the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Dempsey, to provide immediately a guarantee to every community that adequate primary and secondary facilities will be put in place and that primary education will be provided on a needs basis for all children. I also call on the Minister for Health and Children to abolish the two-tier health system and provide adequate health services at regional level.

I have a number of concerns regarding some of the items included in the programme for Government, but today I will mention just two. The first of these is the possibility of the privatisation of State companies. I am not persuaded that privatisation of public utilities is a positive step. However, if the incoming Government is determined to press ahead then, at minimum, public service obligations must be put in place so that peripheral areas will be guaranteed access to the services concerned. The second matter to which I wish to refer is the establishment of a national waste management advisory board, which must not impose centralised decision-making regarding waste management on local authorities and local communities. The agreed programme for Government contains a number of positive proposals and I look forward to their implementation during the lifetime of the Dáil.

At local level there are many issues of concern but in the context of today's business I will refer briefly to three. There must be an immediate and fully guaranteed resolution to the matter of funding for the inner relief road in Sligo. In addition, a timeframe and immediate financial commitment must be put in place in respect of the provision of a natural gas supply to Leitrim and Sligo. Farming and agri-business are essential to the economies of Sligo and Leitrim and the maintenance of the maximum number of family farms is essential to the future economic and social development of both counties.

I am very pleased to see a significant number of Independent Deputies representing constituencies in all parts of Ireland. This is a positive development, not an anti-democratic one, which expresses the wishes of the people and delivers a very strong message to all political parties. Perhaps the foremost message it sends is that my mandate and that of all the Independent Deputies and members of smaller parties must be recognised as equal to that of members of any other political party. In this context, I ask the Government to amend Standing Orders appropriately in the interests of democracy in order to reflect the democratic outcome of the general election.

Dr. Cowley:

Gabhaim comhgairdeas leat, a Cheann Comhairle. Tá súil agam go n-éireoidh go hiontach leat ins an post nua atá agat. I am honoured to be here. Tá mé an-bhródúil as bheith anseo mar Theachta Dála do Mhaigh Eo agus gabhaim buíochas le muintir Mhaigh Eo as an vóta mór a thug siad dom. By returning me first past the post with a very high vote the people of County Mayo sent out a very strong message, which could not and would not be diluted, that after 80 years of neglect they are no longer prepared to tolerate it. My election is about equality.

As a general practitioner, I witness terrible deprivation. I see how elderly, very ill people are forced to leave home at 5 a.m. to take the long trip to Galway for orthopaedic and rheumatology services. Even Croatia has more rheumatologists than we have. A mark of a society is how it treats its ill and older people. We do not treat our sick people very well. What is happening is criminal. The indices for deprivation in County Mayo show that we are more likely to die on the cardiac waiting list or have serious complications following surgery.

As regards BreastCheck, it has been well known since 1998 that mortality from breast cancer, a terrible disease which kills about 650 people here every year, can be cut by 20%. This means 100 people could be saved each year. The programme needs to be extended and I ask the Government to do so immediately.

While money certainly has gone into the health service, it will be a waste of time without reform. There is too much duplication in the health system. We have ten health boards when we need only one. If one looks at other systems with similar populations, they have only one health board. In terms of the people being recruited in the health service, where are the doctors and nurses? In our general hospital we have 60 staff fewer than what we should have. We have a very efficient hospital which is being penalised for the very good work it is doing. The problem is capacity.

As regards the health strategy, why not employ consultants? In Castlebar where we have consultants in medicine and surgery we have little or no waiting list. Why not have these services locally, given that they would put a complete end to waiting lists? The money should be invested in this, rather than sending people abroad or supporting private enterprise. This is not just about health, even though it is the most immediate issue. The bottom line is that we need resources such as power, the ESB, the N5 and other roads and the decentralisation of Government, all the things necessary to put us on an even keel. Because we do not have them, we have not been able to make use of Objective 1 status.

Many of our farmers have left the land because of CAP reforms and other matters. They need help. The national spatial strategy should be pub lished because the sterilising statutes in the area of planning serve only to further depopulate rural Ireland and deprive immigrants and landowners of the right to stay in their own area. They are doing what Cromwell could not do.

Insurance for young drivers is a very important issue. Why not give people no claims bonuses until they have their first accident? Business insurance is in major crisis. Al Capone would be very proud of the degree of racketeering taking place. The fact that the legal profession receives 40% of claims is also remarkable.

The people of County Mayo have shouted "stop" and are refusing to be taken for granted any longer. We have paid a heavy price for our political predictability in the past. It resulted in bad roads, no gas, no broadband and no commitment to improve County Mayo's ability to create jobs. Everybody else is getting gas from County Mayo, which is ours. There should be a public service obligation to provide gas for the towns and I ask the Government to do this immediately. It is past time for real change.

I make no apology for my presence here. I will challenge the Government and everybody else at every opportunity. I congratulate the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and the members of the Government and wish them every success. I also congratulate my colleague from County Mayo, Deputy Kenny, and wish him every success. We are here to fight for County Mayo. It is a good fight and, while it will be hard, we deserve equality and are on the march for it.

Mr. Hogan:

I wish to share time with Deputy Ring.

A Cheann Comhairle, I congratulate you on your election and wish you well in your new post. I congratulate the Taoiseach and the Ministers who have been appointed to Government. It is a great occasion for them, in particular, for those appointed for the first time. I wish them well, particularly Deputy McDowell on his appointment to the position of Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. He has been very involved, not only in the legal world for a considerable period, but also politics. I suppose he often wondered if this great day would come. He will continue the tradition his family has upheld going back to the foundation of the State. He has a strong link through the institutions of the State to what is good. The post he will hold is very dear to the hearts of the members of the Fine Gael Party and his ancestors. I wish him the best in the difficult and onerous responsibility of ensuring the citizens of our State are protected from criminality and subversion and protecting and upholding the institutions of the State. He has the credentials to do the job well.

I also congratulate other new Ministers on their well deserved appointments, particularly Deputy Coughlan from County Donegal and Deputy Cullen from the south east. As a former member of the Progressive Democrats Party who then joined Fianna Fáil, he comes from a good stable for the Tánaiste.

Ms Harney:

The Deputy would also be very welcome.

Mr. Hogan:

I know my place. The south east has not been properly represented and I will watch what Deputy Cullen will be able to deliver for it. He is the first senior Minister from the region since the rainbow Government when Mr. Yates and Deputy Howlin were members of the Cabinet. I am glad the Taoiseach has seen the error of his ways in the past five years by sorting out the regional imbalance in Cabinet responsibilities.

Deputy Ó Cuív's appointment will be welcomed, particularly by those involved in rural and western development. While he will break their hearts, they will be glad that somebody as tenacious and with a good grasp of detail is getting the job. He will ensure Deputies Michael Higgins, Ring and others will no longer have to make so many direct representations to sort out the problems of rural and western development. From 6 a.m. he will torment his tormentors to such an extent that they will go away in frustration. Personally and for his family, it is a good day.

It is also interesting to note the survival of some of the dinosaurs of the Cabinet, namely, Deputies Michael Smith and Walsh. I cannot fathom the reasons for this. Deputy Walsh has been a member of the Cabinet through thick and thin. The reappointment of someone who has been in the post for so long is a vote of no confidence in agriculture and implies that no new or fresh thinking required in the sector. The commercial agriculture sector, which in Kilkenny still depends on the weather for its survival, will not welcome the decision to allow Deputy Walsh to continue in office. While I wish the Deputy well on a personal level, the Taoiseach's judgment in this matter leaves a little to be desired.

As others have mentioned, it has been a difficult day for some other Ministers, namely, Deputies Fahey, de Valera, Woods and McDaid. However, they have to face up to the political reality that there is only one boss, the Taoiseach, and in the rough and tumble of politics we all have disappointments from time to time. I share the difficult day they and their families are experiencing and hope they will be rewarded in the days ahead by taking up new responsibilities and challenges.

I agree with the Tánaiste that the stability of the Government is very important. The challenges that lie ahead will be extremely difficult. They were ignored by the last Government, particularly in the last budget. If we are to progress as a country, we must have a solid economic foundation. That is no longer the case. We are dangerously close to having the public finances out of control. I am surprised that Deputy McDowell, who was the Attorney General in the last Cabinet, would have allowed that to happen. Now that he has a more robust involvement in the Cabinet I am sure he will put Deputy McCreevy back on track in respect of the over-expenditure, waste and unaccountable nature of our public finances in many of the public services. We need much more scrutiny in the public services and value for money. Fine Gael will be examining in detail over the next while the manner in which money has been allocated and spent. It will examine the inefficiency and lack of accountability that we see in so many of the services. It is more evident than ever before, at a time when we need to get back on an even keel in respect of our public finances.

With regard to benchmarking, the ATM will have to be closed down and pulled out of the wall, because it is no longer available to the extent that people talked about and in the manner in which it was negotiated. We do not want any open cheque books at a time when a perilous financial state is beckoning. We need a competitive economy and we need costs to be kept as low as possible. That is nowhere more evident than in the cost of insurance, for example, for small businesses. I refer not only to young people who are seeking insurance, but to working people who need and want to get rewarded for their day's efforts. The costs they face, be it for child care, transport or insurance, are out of control. An immediate task for the Government is to try to reduce and contain costs and give a greater competitive edge to the economy in the future to sustain employment.

Equality of opportunity for all in education must be considered. It would be great if the children of the well off and those not so well off could go through all levels of education without having to worry about the means at their disposal to do so. That is the essence of economic activity, the essence of alleviating poverty. Self-esteem and self-worth would obtain if people were given real access and opportunity in our education system.

One of the crucial issues facing the country this year will be the Nice referendum. Every one of us has to get on board to ensure that it will be a success. Fine Gael and other parties in the House will be of assistance to the Government if we can negotiate measures that will benefit all sides of the House so we can put a proper proposal to the people that will be successful on this occasion. The Government should think long and hard and negotiate with everybody to see if we can reach common ground to achieve that objective.

The national spatial strategy has been mentioned and promised for a long time. We have had a lot of studies, statistics and censuses, but no action. For many people of Dublin, quality of life, if it means anything, is defined by their getting out of Dublin. I would recommend a place called Kilkenny as one of the growth centres for decentralisation in the future.

Mr. Ring:

I congratulate the Taoiseach and Tánaiste and wish them well in their appointments. I do not agree with the Tánaiste's policies, but she gave Fine Gael great hope. Her party went through a difficult time and rose from the ashes. I find her very courteous and respectful and I wish her well. I do not agree with her policies, about which I will say a few things in a moment, but I wish her well—

Ms Harney:

That is why the Deputy is making a mistake. He should agree with me.

Mr. Ring:

I congratulate the people who were appointed by the Taoiseach. I know that Deputy Walsh got credit last year for keeping foot and mouth disease out of this country. I did not know that he put a barrier around Agriculture House to let nobody in. He has been here for about 17 years out of the past 20 and agriculture is going down the drain on a daily basis. Today, hundreds of farmers were marching outside this House. Next week, more farmers will come to protest about the prices in the agricultural sector.

My following point concerns the Progressive Democrats, particularly Deputy Parlon. When I heard he was negotiating the programme for Government I was delighted. I said "This man is going to put agriculture on the top of the agenda." When I got the programme for Government I read every page. The Deputy was in the Gallery thousands of times telling us – the elected public representatives – what we were doing wrong in agriculture. When he had the opportunity to look after the farmers of this country and when he was at the table arranging the programme for Government, he forgot them. Is that not amazing?

Mr. Kenny:

It is amazing.

Mr. Rabbitte:

Deputy Parlon forgot the farmers.

Mr. Ring:

He forgot the farmers. He was elected by farmers.

I want to say to his colleagues in the IFA that I hope they will be as vocal and, when they come up again, that they will target the right people on that occasion, not the people that had supported them over the years.

I want the Tánaiste, once and for all, to make a clear statement on FÁS schemes. I heard her colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Kitt, blaming the Progressive Democrats. I do not blame the Progressive Democrats for everything—

Ms Harney:

Go on.

Mr. Ring:

I want to know what part she had in it. I want a clear message from the Tánaiste as to what is happening with the FÁS schemes. Is it Government policy? Is it the policy of the Progressive Democrats? Is it Fianna Fáil policy or was it the policy of the Independents, because they were the people supporting the last Government? They were in Government longer than Fine Gael. The Independents were in Government for the past five years. We were in Government for only two and a half years out of the past ten.

What is the position regarding the FÁS schemes, which have given many deprived people an opportunity to work? The schemes, which worked, gave them and their families a sense of pride and an opportunity to be retrained for work. They also did some valuable work for the community, in relation to which the county councils had failed the people and taxpayers. The FÁS schemes did vital work. They trained unemployed people in carpentry and all kinds of work. They got people back into the workplace. I want the Tánaiste and her Department to make a clear statement on the FÁS schemes, maintain them, retain them and put the necessary funding in place to make sure that the people on those schemes, working in the health services and all forms of social life, are treated appropriately.

I am sorry Deputy McDowell, the watchdog – I would say the rottweiler – has left the House. I got bitten by a dog during the election campaign. I hope it was a small bite and I hope, in respect of the Minister, that it will not be a small bite for the Government because he got elected and told the people he would be a rottweiler. We will now see if he is a lamb or rottweiler. One must remember that a lot of things will happen in the coming months. With regard to finances, the tax returns are not matching what the Government indicated a couple of months ago in the budget. Do not be surprised if the Government has to bring in a mini-budget in the next few weeks to make up the difference. We in the Opposition will be watching it every step of the way.

Deputy Martin, the Minister for spin, had more spin doctors than medical doctors and more consultants than medical consultants. He is back in the job again. He told us during the election campaign that he did not realise there was a problem in the health service. He now tells us that all waiting lists will be gone within two years. I compliment and congratulate him because I will be the best supporter he has, but I will be monitoring him every single week. I will table questions to see what is happening in respect of the medical consultants and the spin doctors. We will want to know the true record.

How is it that the chief executives of the health boards did not know they had a budget overrun until after the general election? That is outrageous and an interference with the political process. The chief executive of the Western Health Board brought in the Western Health Board members and told them that she was £4 billion over budget, but she did not tell them the week before the election. She brought them in the week after the election. That is political propaganda at its worst. I wish there was a change of Government because there should be a change in a lot of the Departments. Political interference is not right. The chief executives of the health boards should tell the people the truth regardless of who is in Government.

I am both glad and sorry for Deputy Woods. He is not a bad fellow. He was a great singer – I heard him sing down in Westport. His tune ran out today. I feel sorry for him because I liked him. Like Deputy Quinn and his colleagues, I have spent the past 12 months trying to get figures from the Department of Education and Science. If the Government is open and honest, it should give me those figures. I have tabled questions for the past six months about the list of schools seeking grant aid. However, the Department has not given me that information.

I ask you, a Cheann Comhairle, as the chairman of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, to protect me as a Member of the House. I have tabled parliamentary questions and I am entitled to that information. Department officials should not keep that information from me. A parliamentary question is sacred and I should get the answers, but not when the election is over. I ask that the information be sent to me immediately. I will table more questions if the Dáil resumes next week, which I hope it will as that is what we are elected to do.

Deputy Ó Cuív will be the only Minister in Connacht. I am disappointed there will not be a senior Minister in Mayo. Deputy Ó Cuív has said he will take on An Taisce. He will have my full support. I want him to introduce new planning laws and to make it easier for the people of rural Ireland to get planning permission. As regards decentralisation, we have the people and the space for them to work in the west.

Mr. Sargent:

Gabhaim mo bhuíochas leis an Rialtas as a chuid ama a roinnt agus a rá gur mhaith liom mo chuid ama a roinnt leis na Teachtaí Eamon Ryan agus Dan Boyle.

An Ceann Comhairle:

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Sargent:

I congratulate those who have been appointed to ministerial office today, particularly the Taoiseach on his personal achievement. When one lists a number of jobs, it gives the impression that the country can be governed in compartments. However, it is good that recognition has been given to the need to cross-reference many responsibilities through the establishment of a Department with responsibility for transport. I hope that will be developed as it was missing in the last Government. Many errors were made and gaps were not addressed because they fell between different stools. That must be addressed in the interests of sustainability. The Green Party called for the establishment of a Department for transport. It is good that it is being established. It is unfortunate, however, that the programme for Government suggests that two thirds of transport expenditure in the national development plan will be on roads rather than on public transport. We will work to change that in the new Dáil.

Some Departments suggest business as usual. Deputy Martin could probably be called the Minister for sickness rather than the Minister for health. He said he finds it difficult to cope with the fact that each year 90,000 more people than the year before present themselves for health services. That is a rise of 6% every year. It seems to be an admission of failure, but he now has time to get to grips with that issue.

I congratulate the Tánaiste on retaining her position. However, we must ensure that we have sustainable enterprise and not just trade, but fair trade. We also need a guarantee of meaningful employment. Many jobs are of a low grade and do not satisfy people's basic needs. I also urge her to work closely with the Department responsible for community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs. The Green Party called for the establishment of such a Department during the election campaign. I hope the new Department will measure up to that for which we called. It will be tested on its ability to build local sustainable economies and communities. That will be a new phenomenon if it happens.

Deputy Walsh is also staying at his old office. However, will agriculture benefit from that lack of movement? I fear for the future of many farm families. I met some of them outside Leinster House at lunch time and they were not happy with the prospect of Deputy Walsh continuing in office. They fear the growth of a cartel in the meat industry and cheap milk imports. They also fear his endorsement of incineration. I share that fear. They feel it will be the death knell of the food industry, regardless of how the waste problem is sorted. The Government must take that on board. The Swiss study, which was done 21 years ago, proves that ecological and organic farming is more efficient. I ask the Government to take that on board.

Deputy McCreevy must clean up the mess he made in the public finances. It may give satisfaction to some, but it is not satisfying for us to see the same Deputy who presided over a fiasco in the public finances continuing in the job. He must measure more than financial capital.

Deputy Cullen is to succeed where Deputy Dempsey failed in rebalancing taxes. He did not make the argument sufficiently well at Cabinet to have eco taxes instead of income taxes. The Taoiseach told us that we will continue to make our contribution to international action on environmental problems. If that is the case, God help us because the contribution made to date has been horrendous. I hope it will be a change and not a continuation of that contribution. Yesterday was world environment day and in late August the Johannesburg Earth Summit will be held. That will blow the Government's game plan out of the water because the radical changes needed are not in the programme for Government.

I welcome the movement of Dúchas to the Department of the Environment and Local Government. We do not have a wildlife rehabilitation centre in this country. We should avail of opportunities in this year of eco tourism.

Deputy Roche will be appointed a Minister of State. He is well used to being used and abused by Fianna Fáil. He has been sent to appear on programmes to defend the indefensible, whether that is scandals or defeats in Government. He has now been called to sell the unsaleable, namely, the Treaty of Nice with the new meaningless declaration attached. I presume he will be well able to explain its defeat when the time comes.

As leader of the Green Party, I look forward to pursuing the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. I understand some of the feelings of minorities and I can empathise with and, I hope, facilitate reconciliation and progress. As a member of a minority faith in a minority party and an advocate of a minority language, tá áthas orm a fheiceáil go bhfuil Éamonn Ó Cuív ins an Rialtas faoi dheireadh. Is é an duine a thabharfaidh isteach an Bille Teanga. Le cúnamh Dé beidh sé sin os ár gcomhair gan mhoill.

Mr. Eamon Ryan:

Deputy John Bruton was right when he said the Green Party could not get the same speaking rights as Fine Gael because of the numbers. However, I would have liked the opportunity Deputy John Bruton had to type out a nice speech. I got a telephone call 15 minutes ago to tell me I could speak for five minutes at a certain time. That is one of the problems we are arguing about because we want to be able to best serve our time in the Dáil.

I am sorry Deputy McDowell has left the House because I want to give him some of the lectures on economics he delivered to us in the months leading up to the election. The first debate we need to have is about sustainable economics. People should not assume the Green Party is anti-business or anti-enterprise. Our philosophy comes from the book mentioned by Deputy Gormley, Small is Beautiful, by Schumacher. We believe in business where it has a soul and in economics which treat people and the environment as if they matter. The philosophy is about promoting small and indigenous business. Small and indigenous businesses have criticised the Government for making it incredibly difficult to do business in this country. It has looked after Intel, the multinational companies and IBEC, but it has not looked after small Irish businesses.

The first law of economics in UCD – Deputy McDowell's brother could probably tell him if he gave him a call – is that one does not pump an overheating economy. The last Government did that over the past five years and, as a result, we have high inflation. We have twice the inflation rate of our European competitors. That makes it difficult for small businesses. There is house inflation which is causing friends of mine to leave the country because they cannot afford to live in Dublin and do not want to drive from Carlow or Kilkenny to Dublin. Certainly, Kilkenny should be developed but we should not have a country where house inflation is so high. Six months ago the Government brought the investors back in to pump inflation further and make it even more difficult for young people to purchase a house.

There is wage inflation because there is house price inflation. There is inflation in insurance and in the compensation culture that the previous Government oversaw for five years. We saw the development of a cartel in the insurance industry despite Government Departments espousing free competition. The compensation culture and the insurance costs that come with it create a huge difficulties for small businesses.

There are also huge costs to small businesses in the area of transport. The provision of motorways will not solve that. They will do nothing except facilitate people to drive for an hour and a half from Carlow to Dublin every day or turn the whole country into a commuter belt for the greater Dublin area. Motorways will not alleviate the huge costs for employers and the difficulties for employees in getting to work. Public transport is the only way. I was worried, when Deputy Quinn raised the issue of whether the spatial plan would be a part of the Department of Transport and Public Enterprise, that Deputy Martin Cullen indicated it would not. That is ridiculous. Transport and planning cannot be separated.

The Government is maintaining the same kind of gambling instinct in the Minister for Finance, who has been kept in his post, and I will watch to see that the Government does not use public private partnership as a kind of illusory way of solving the crisis. We do not want public private partnerships where the State takes all the risk and private corporations get the benefit or where financiers decide what sort of hospital or railway system we get. That will not work.

The outgoing Government has given us many lectures but it has dug us into a deep economic hole. I hope that the Government is willing to listen to the Opposition who will help it to change tack and dig us all out of that hole.

Mr. Boyle:

It was Abraham Lincoln who came up with the aphorism that you can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. The maxim of the Government in the last Dáil, and what it seems willing to pursue in this Dáil, is that you can fool enough of the people enough of the time. That adds to the very real cynicism that exists about Irish political life.

Elements of this Government have expressed through their pronouncements and their policy initiatives a doubt as to whether they identify with the notion that, as Margaret Thatcher has said, there is no such thing as society. This will be most seen in how the Government squares a difficult circle now that we seem to be heading towards breaching the Maastricht treaty criteria of 3% for the debt-GDP ratio in terms of our budget balance.

Cuts have been put in place across the board in various Government Departments. This is already seen in proposals on the community employment schemes and, despite the obvious pride that the Tánaiste has taken in her stewardship of her Department, there will be many who are disappointed that she still has that portfolio. Despite the Tánaiste's belief that these schemes are a labour market measure, they are instead a real means of maintaining the under-resourcing that successive Governments have been responsible for in terms of voluntary social services. Any attempt to undermine the basis of volunteerism and voluntary activity will come back to haunt this Government and the Green Party is putting down a marker that it is willing to argue the case for proper resourcing of communities and to speak on their behalf.

As part of the reorganisation of Government, the establishment of a Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs – which was first proposed by the Green Party and which I welcome – should see the administration of community employment schemes carried out by this Department rather than the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. If we believe in community employment schemes playing a valued role in resourcing communities throughout the country, that is the proper place for it to be.

In relation to some of the other appointments, the integration of public enterprise in the Department of Transport is something that we welcome. However, if it is a Department that merely talks about administering transport in the way that has been done in the past it will be a fairly useless innovation.

We are beginning to see the start of a campaign in relation to a second referendum on the Nice treaty. It has been pointed out in this debate that the Tánaiste has talked about anyone who intends to vote "No" in such a referendum as being isolationist and willing to work against the real interests of this country. I say to her and to members of the Government that it is time we took on board a critique of the European Union that refers to where the people want to see the European Union going. We are very much a part of the European Union, will remain so and will get benefits from our membership in terms of the Single Market. However, if it is a European Union that is not people-centred, is undemocratic, centralised and has decisions made by small cliques, then the people of Ireland will not support it. In a referendum to discuss the nature of that direction, the people of Ireland will take the opportunity to oppose it.

Mr. M. Higgins:

I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on his appointment and wish him well. I also offer my compliments on a personal level to the holders of office and those who have departed from office.

I regard the nomination of this Government by the Taoiseach as a disaster for the country. The views that the members of the Government represent – with a Taoiseach who went to the country, secured 81 seats, and decided to surrender his party to the views of the Progressive Democrats – will have the consequence of revealing an appalling vista. Why should the people trust those who inherited a good economy and had massive surpluses, and who exhausted those surpluses on deepening every inequality – in housing, health, income and social protection? Why should the people expect anything from them now in conditions of scarcity?

Earlier today, the phrase "centre right" was used. It was the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy who used that phrase first as a badge of honour. He said in an interview with the BBC that he was proud to be a "right of sinister" Minister for Finance and proud to introduce Reaganite and Thatcherite policies in this country. Now he is to be joined in Cabinet by Deputy McDowell. Members of the Cabinet should open a new page in their diaries entitled "Tuesdays with Michael". They will hear from him a kind of asocial individualism close to an amoral individualism that expressly states that there is no such thing as universal rights on an egalitarian basis. In everything he stands for, from jurisprudence right through to the economy and to social policy, his is the law of the fittest. There is no such thing as a citizenship which would automatically grant equal rights in health, education and in relation to participation in society. This bogus republican party is a republican party that stands for the law of the strongest.

Deputy McCreevy said that he will publish a book on his five budgets, despite one budget after another distributing all the fruits to those who already had. Coming towards the end, and facing a crisis on the capital side, he decided to hand close to €2 billion back to those who already had through his savings scheme. When history comes to be written, it will look at the outgoing Government and the surpluses it had. How did that Government end? I remember the general election and colleagues of mine going to meetings saying to people suffering from disability, for example, that they agreed that the legislation should be on a rights basis. Where is that legislation in the programme for Government? It is not in the programme.

Another issue is the classic antipathy of the Fianna Fáil Party to the word "culture". I was the first Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. When I left, the word "culture" was removed from the title. In the current programme, responsibility for heritage is now scattered back to the Department of the Environment and Local Government. The dangerous buildings sections of many of the local authorities were those I had to take court action against to stop them demolishing heritage buildings.

Where is the Irish language in this programme and who has responsibility for broadcasting? Broadcasting is buried in communications so that the destruction of the national broadcaster can continue. It is mentioned in the programme that we will have Bille na Gaeilge. However, it is not indicated which Minister will have responsibility for it. Why this Fianna Fáil antipathy to the word "culture"?

In introducing his new team, the Taoiseach said: "in reviewing the responsibilities of Departments I am acutely conscious of the ever-increasing pace of change in needs and priorities in the modern economy." Perhaps someone will tell him in the next five years that we are not prisoners of the economy, as the Tánaiste believes. Are we to bring back the 70 year olds in case the economy needs them and then, when we have a shortage of jobs, send back those who have been allowed to come here and work without certificates?

We are members of a society. That is the difference. When the claptrap of Deputy McDowell and the others is examined analytically by economists it will be shown to be a pale version of things that have failed elsewhere. Deputy McCreevy knows that, but he does not care. I disagree with his market model. He is using the model as an instrument of oppression in relation to the economy.

On this side of the House we will not moan about the state of the finances or speak as though the economy and finances were separate from politics. We will be submitting the Government's Reaganism and Thatcherism to scrutiny and offering a different model based on social economics, inclusion, rights, citizenship and all the things people might expect in a republic. The republican Taoiseach got 81 seats and then surrendered, via Deputy McCreevy, to the Progressive Democrats in order that we could have more of the same. Disgrace.

An Ceann Comhairle:

As it is now 7.30 p.m. I am required to put the following question in accordance with an order of the House of this day: "That Dáil Éireann approves the nominations by the Taoiseach for the appointment by the President to be members of the Government."

Question put.

Tá

Ahern, Bertie.Ahern, Dermot.Ahern, Michael.Ahern, Noel.Andrews, Barry.

Ardagh, Seán.Aylward, Liam.Blaney, Niall.Brady, Johnny. Brady, Martin.

Tá–continued

Brennan, Séamus.Browne, John.Callanan, Joe.Callely, Ivor.Carey, Pat.Carty, John.Cassidy, Donie.Collins, Michael.Connolly, Paudge.Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.Coughlan, Mary.Cowen, Brian.Cregan, John.Cullen, Martin.Curran, John.Davern, Noel.Dempsey, Noel.Dempsey, Tony.Dennehy, John.de Valera, Síle.Devins, Jimmy.Ellis, John.Fahey, Frank.Fitzpatrick, Dermot.Fleming, Seán.Fox, Mildred.Gallagher, Pat The Cope.Glennon, Jim.Grealish, Noel.Hanafin, Mary.Harney, Mary.Haughey, Seán.Hoctor, Marie.Jacob, Joe.Keaveney, Cecilia.Kelleher, Billy.Kelly, Peter.Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Seamus.Kitt, Tom.Lenihan, Brian.

Lenihan, Conor.McCreevy, Charlie.McDaid, James.McDowell, Michael.McEllistrim, Tom.McGuinness, John.McHugh, Paddy.Martin, Micheál.Moloney, John.Moynihan, Donal.Moynihan, Michael.Mulcahy, Michael.Nolan, M. J.Ó Cuív, Éamon.O'Connor, Charlie.Ó Fearghaill, Seán.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donnell, Liz.O'Donoghue, John.O'Donovan, Denis.O'Flynn, Noel.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Keeffe, Ned.O'Malley, Fiona.O'Malley, Tim.Parlon, Tom.Power, Peter.Power, Seán.Roche, Dick.Ryan, Eoin.Sexton, Mae.Smith, Brendan.Smith, Michael.Treacy, Noel.Wallace, Dan.Wallace, Mary.Walsh, Joe.Wilkinson, Ollie.Woods, Michael J.Wright, G.V.

Níl

Allen, Bernard.Boyle, Dan.Breen, Patrick.Broughan, Thomas P.Bruton, John.Bruton, Richard.Burton, Joan.Connaughton, Paul.Costello, Joe.Coveney, Simon.Crawford, Seymour.Crowe, Seán.Cuffe, Ciaran.Deasy, John.Deenihan, Jimmy.Durkan, Bernard J.English, Damien.Enright, Olwyn.Ferris, Martin.Gilmore, Eamon.Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.Gormley, John.Hayes, Tom.Healy, Seamus.Higgins, Michael D.Higgins, Joe.Hogan, Phil.Howlin, Brendan.Kehoe, Paul.Kenny, Enda.Lynch, Kathleen.McCormack, Padraic.McGinley, Dinny.

McGrath, Finian.McGrath, Paul.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Gay.Mitchell, Olivia.Morgan, Arthur.Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.Murphy, Gerard.Naughten, Denis.Neville, Dan.Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.O'Dowd, Fergus.O'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.O'Sullivan, Jan.Pattison, Seamus.Penrose, Willie.Perry, John.Quinn, Ruairi.Rabbitte, Pat.Ring, Michael.Ryan, Eamon.Ryan, Seán.Sargent, Trevor.Sherlock, Joe.Shortall, Roisín.Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Timmins, Billy.Upton, Mary.Wall, Jack.

Tellers: Tá, Deputies Hanafin and Brennan; Níl, Deputies Coveney and Stagg.

Question declared carried.