‘Mutiny’ in coalition ranks after election

THE election drubbing suffered by Fianna Fáil and the Greens has caused “mutiny in the ranks” and will erode the Government’s ability to get to grips with the economic crisis, the Dáil has heard.

After a stormy debate, with numerous insults hurled across the floor, the Government last night defeated a motion of no confidence tabled by Fine Gael and passed a motion of confidence in its place by a comfortable majority of six votes.

But Labour deputy leader Joan Burton predicted this would prove merely a temporary act of unity.

“The mutinous atmosphere will linger on and erode even further the capacity of the Government to do the nation’s business properly,” she said. “No government in such a state of disarray can hope to motivate the country for the hard road ahead.”

Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton criticised the Government parties for attributing their election defeats to the fact that the public “didn’t understand” the tough decisions they were taking.

“The ministers should get real, wake up and smell the coffee. People understand,” Mr Bruton said.

“They get it. The Government does not get it. They see their jobs going up in smoke. They see their mortgages way beyond their house prices. They see their pensions having disappeared because the stock markets have collapsed in the economy mismanaged by the Government. The sooner it goes, the better it will be for the country.”

But Finance Minister Brian Lenihan rejected suggestions that the local and European elections and Dáil by-elections were a referendum on the Government.

“The people were not deciding on who should run this country. They have yet to decide whether or not they want Enda Kenny as Taoiseach. That proposition was not put to the electorate last Friday and their judgment on that matter remains a matter of conjecture,” Mr Lenihan said.

He acknowledged the public was “very angry” with the Government and said he understood the reasons why.

The minister also admitted the country’s economic difficulties were not solely down to global factors, saying more should have been done to contain the domestic property boom.

But the reality was that a €20 billion hole existed in the public finances, and the Government was taking necessary decisions to address that.

“Our choices are limited. There are no easy, painless solutions to our fiscal dilemma and it is time we all faced that reality.”

Green minister Eamon Ryan echoed that line, although admitting that some of the cutbacks may not have been the correct ones.

“The Government is doing a hard thing, but it is the right thing. It is not easy and mistakes have been made. We could look back on some cuts that have been made and ask whether we could have done things differently. There is an argument for that.”

The Dáil also heard the maiden speeches of newly elected TDs, George Lee, of Fine Gael, and Independent Maureen O’Sullivan.

“We have had the best economy in the world and the most money available to any government in the history of the Irish economy or in the wildest dreams of any minister or politician to disburse in recent years,” Mr Lee said. “We have had a great opportunity and the Government has blown it.”

Ms O’Sullivan said it was “immoral and evil” that the Government could find so much money to cover the mistakes of those in industry, banking and property who had been driven by “profit, greed and selfishness”.