I thank Deputy Deasy for allowing me to share his time. I often wondered why politicians are unfortunately held in such low esteem by the general public. It is something that I, as a young person involved in politics, have thought a lot about. I got one answer today - and that was the way Deputy Roche spoke in this House. He was vile, nasty and sinister. It is that sort of thing that unfortunately gives us a bad name. Deputy Roche would have done us a favour if he had gone to the United States with his colleague who brought a bag of applications for visas and maybe they would have kept him. However, unfortunately, he might not get through the second test which is a personality test, because what he has done here is low, vile and sinister. His record and his advice to people in this country has caused many of the problems we are facing today, and it is the young people who have to pay in the end. It is no wonder the Taoiseach keeps him on the backbenches. Maybe the people of Wicklow will remove him if he carries on in that terrible and stupid manner.
This debate is taking place because of the state of the nation. The people have lost confidence in this Government. When there are more than 260,000 people unemployed it is understandable that there is cynicism and apathy. Out of every ten people employed in this country, seven are employed in the public service and three in the private sector. There is a problem with employment creation. Whoever is in Government must give incentives to the private sector in order to increase employment. The nearest country with similar statistics is Britain where out of every ten people employed, six are employed in the private sector and four in the public service. The Government have not tried to grapple with the problem that the system in this country does nothing to provide employment and while we allow this [668] system to stay in place, we will continue to have high unemployment.
The Taoiseach and many members of the Government have had the opportunity to outline the policies they will adopt for the next two years. The Taoiseach outlined nothing that would give confidence to the people or, indeed, to this Parliament. That is why it is time for this Government to vacate their position, to go to the country and look for a mandate, which I have no doubt they would not get because if they cannot get agreement with their partners, how would they get the agreement of the people? Both the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fil are involved in brinkmanship and this is having a very destabilising effect on this country. As long as that continues the kind of decisions that are very necessary to take the country out of the economic mire it is in will not be taken.
There are a number of points I would like to make but unfortunately I do not have the time. There is mention of a number of people who could take over the leadership of the great Fianna Fil Party in the not too distant future as a result of the effect of the so-called gang of four and the presence of a mortally wounded Taoiseach. The Minister for Finance had the opportunity to show what he was made of in in terms of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress. He said in this House that we would have an economic growth rate of up to 4 per cent but I think he was the only person who advised us of that. I believe he knew himself that that was not possible but he did not have the gumption to take on the Taoiseach and say: "stop, this will not be achieved." As a result we are left in a dire situation.
I wish to raise a number of points, for example, the waiting lists for health care. The Taoiseach seems to have forgotten about this. The only time he seems to remember the health services is during election time.

A final point, this [669] Government have lost their way. It is time they vacated their position and went to the country for a new mandate.
Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. O'Kennedy) Michael O'Kennedy 

