Any objective comparison based on the performance of this Government and previous Administrations of which Opposition parties were members, with the exception of The Workers' Party, will show quite clearly on any of the economic criteria that the performance of Fianna Fil led Administrations has been far superior to the performance of those Administrations in which Opposition parties have participated. For that reason alone it is quite clear that the best available Government is on this side of the House.
I should like to direct a few points to my junior partners in Government, the Progressive Democrats. This Government are proceeding on the basis of the Programme for Government, 1989-1993, called In the National Interest. Deputy Spring this morning and yesterday sought to give an impression that there is no programme available to this Government on which to do the nation's business. This is the programme. The programme provides for a review mechanism after two years and thereafter annually. Under all the headings there has been substantial progress. There has been progress in terms of competition law, commercial State enterprises, tax reform, public finances, the needs of the lower paid, indirect tax harmonisation, the health services and great improvements under the social welfare heading which are in excess of inflation, special measures for the unemployed in urban disadvantaged areas, and in education.
There has been the setting up of the Environment Protection Agency, and we have started on local government reform. [893] We have brought in legislation on planning compensation. Environmental impact assessments are essential before permission is given for mining. The sum of 3 billion is being distributed from the European Structural Funds under various headings. In agriculture there is a review of the disadvantaged areas scheme. We have increased headage grants and there are new appeals systems. Off-farm income limits in disadvantaged areas are no longer taken into account. There are major developments in the forestry programme and in fisheries. Tourist numbers have doubled since 1987. We have brought in air transport liberalisation, and regional airports have been developed. There are new rural tourism schemes. We have seen energy proposals and new transport legislation has been promised. Substantial progress has been made in relation to the agreed Programme for Government. It is within that overall framework that the review mechanism operates. It is also in line with the Programme for Economic and Social Progress which has to be reviewed now in view of the fact that the growth rates which were assumed have to be reviewed due to the international trading position.
This is the way politics are carried on in this country. Agreed programmes are drawn up, in this instance by two individual parties who form the Government and implement policy. It is expecting a little too much of me as a member of the major Government party to expect that we are going to change the framework in any way. We are interested in doing business on the basis of this programme. If they are not interested, frankly we are not interested. There is no way in which a junior partner in Government will dictate fundamental fiscal policy. They can contribute and make an input but anyone who thinks that this party, the biggest party in the State, is to be dictated to--

I want to make it clear that the Fianna Fil programme, most of which is contained in the Programme for [894] Government, will be implemented, if they are interested in doing so. If they are not interested, we can have a general election.
I am very disappointed that not one of the Progressive Democrats in the backbenchers has come in to say what contribution they have made to the implementation of this programme. I understand the Ministers are coming in tomorrow. That is a major disappointment to us on the Government side. For the past two years I have listened with interest to Progressive Democrat Ministers and backbenchers stating how much they have been contributing to the successful implementation of this programme. When it comes to confidence motions there seems to be a very strange reticence on the part of our junior partners. I do not find that acceptable. We are here in good faith to provide a Government for this country. We are not in a game playing exercise. We are not going up to the wire for the sake of the media circus that has been going on for the past ten weeks. We are here to do business and we are entitled to expect our junior partners in Government to come in and express confidence in this Government in terms of the implementation of the programme thus far. If they wish no longer to remain in Government, that is totally a matter for them. We are not here to be dictated to inside or outside this House. We are here in good faith. We respect our partners in Government once that respect is reciprocated.
This party will not be kicked about by anyone. Those who bluster and make unfounded allegations, who seek to politicise financial scandals, will find it will not work in terms of how we approach our programme as long as this Government continue. As the programme states, it is in the national interest that we have a continuation of the present Government. We are anxious to continue and to re-establish the good terms necessary for any Government to function effectively. We are willing to do so. We are not in the business of playing economic poker with the interests of the Irish people. Let us make some decisions and let us [895] proceed. I look forward to some Progressive Democrat backbenchers coming into this House and standing up for the Government they supported. We supported them in Government and we are entitled to some reciprocal support. Their reticence here is, frankly, disappointing.
We have to listen to right wing economic Rasputins outside the Four Courts and elsewhere dictating to us about dishonour in the implementation of our programme. We are discharging our collective responsibility.
In regard to the scandals that have taken place in the last few weeks, I want to put it on the record of this House that every decision that was taken in relation to those matters was a Government decision. The Government are committed to full disclosure, full investigation and full follow through in regard to those who have committed any wrongdoing. There is a constitutional obligation of collective responsibility and we must meet that responsibility when a charge is made. All the decisions that were made were Government decisions. We are anxious and willing to bring transparency into this aspect of our Government dealings so that the wrong-doing, if any, in relation to these matters will not happen again. We need no lectures from anybody in this House about our morality, our uprightness, our steadfastness or our integrity. We need no lectures from anybody about what is right. Our performance in Government over the years shows where this party stand and why we have the support we commanded through successive elections. We will re-establish and reaffirm the fundamental basis upon which this party was built. We need no lectures from anybody inside or outside this House on that matter. It is very difficult to take from some quarters and I am looking at a particular party in that respect.

We heard Deputy Spring say that the question was how the fruits of economic growth would be distributed. He did not have that option when he was in Government because growth was stagnant over that five year period. He spoke about building success on the backs of the unemployed. The unemployed of this country are doing far better under this Administration in terms of improvement to their standard of pay over and above inflation than was ever available under Deputy Barry Desmond or any of his acolytes.
In regard to emigration, we have emigration. Deputy Garret FitzGerald on "Questions and Answers" last Monday, at least had the honesty to put it up to every politician not to be dishonest on this issue. It is a symptom of a problem that arose under their Administration as well as ours. The bottom line in regard to the success or otherwise of a Government in terms of job creation is how many more people are at work in this country under this Administration than was the case before. The one indicator that Deputy FitzGerald did not mention here this evening was that under his Administration there were 66,000 fewer working in 1987 than in 1982. That is a fact. More people are working under this Administration than worked in 1987, and that is a fact.

It is an incontrovertible fact. We have had to put up with assertions here for the past two days about the integrity of the Government and the personnel who support the Government. I need no lectures from anyone in the media, in this House or outside about my integrity or the integrity of my party. We have had enough of it. [897] I would like to see collective responsibility in the physical presence of the junior partners in this Government, particularly their backbenchers, supporting this programme. They have much to be proud of in implementing this programme. We are entitled to expect reciprocal respect. This party will no longer be shoved around by anybody.


