None of us is, but when we make a mistake we should admit it and accept the consequences. There are occasions and issues where a vote of no confidence is justified and necessary. One of these issues concerns the long-established principle of collective responsibility in Government. It is one of the central pillars of our democratic system, without which our parliamentary democracy would not work. It is particularly necessary in a coalition Government made up of two or more parties. Parties in such a Government cannot go their separate ways, unless of course on matters of conscience where it has been agreed that collective responsibility will not apply. The same applies to individual Ministers who make up such Governments.
It is a long time since I described a Stormont Minister for Agriculture as having foot and mouth disease, in that every time he opened his mouth he put his foot in it. One may call that personality politics, even vulgar abuse, and I have been guilty of that on occasions in my time. Thankfully, however, foot and mouth disease is not the threat to animals and the agricultural industry that it once was. As we are only too well aware from current developments, it has been succeeded by BSE. Foot and mouth disease appears to be virulent, however, among Ministers of this Government and in recent times among the ranks of Ministers of State in particular. The Minister of State with responsibility for food, Deputy Ned O'Keeffe, spoke and voted on a motion calling for a total ban on the feeding of meat and bonemeal to all animals, without disclosing his own interest in a pig and feed mill. The Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Deputy Ó Cuív called for the activities of the Department of Defence at Baldonnel to be transferred to his constituency in Galway west, a demand contrary to the policy of the Government to which he belongs, without even the knowledge of the Minister for Defence. It was an act of policy-making on the hoof, if I may describe it as such.
As regards the subject of this debate, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea, not only came out against the policy of the Government but also asked his listeners to resist the judgment of the courts. The gentlest criticism I can make of his action is to say that it was opportunistic. In terms of saying something in private he was not prepared to say in public, it was hardly based on sound moral ground.
One is entitled to ask in relation to this virulent outbreak of foot and mouth disease, where is the vet and what is he doing? Surely the Taoiseach has a responsibility to defend what I have described as one of the central tenets of our parliamentary democracy – collective ministerial responsibility. Surely, even in his own interests of maintaining authority and discipline in the Government, particularly when the call of resistance was made against a member of his coalition partners in Government, he should have taken action, but no, the Taoiseach, apparently, is not a man for such decisions, maybe not a man for any decisions. That is not his style or inclination. He prefers to put off until tomorrow decisions which should be taken today. He reminds me of the man jumping from the 34th floor who is overheard shouting, as he passes the 13th floor, "So far, so good". This failure by the Taoiseach to stamp his authority on the Government will inevitably have a sorry end for him.
My first experience of the political relationship between Fianna Fáil and the taxi industry was during my very first election to the Dáil. I was more than a little surprised to find outside certain polling stations in the constituency rows of taxis where the sign on the top was covered by a poster with the name of a certain Fianna Fáil candidate. I was more than a bit surprised also to see the length of those taxi queues and I wondered why they were there. Later in the day when I visited another part of the constituency, I saw similar rows of taxis bearing the name of the other Fianna Fáil candidate. I wondered about that because I come from a place where black taxis operated, particularly in west Belfast, and we knew who controlled them. I wondered, therefore, what the political relationship was between people in the taxi industry and the Fianna Fáil Party. I have come to know much more about that matter as time has progressed. It is perfectly clear from the reaction of some taxi drivers to the prospect of deregulation that they expected a return for such political support. The vehemence of the response by so many taxi drivers underlines their bitter disappointment and feelings of betrayal.
During this crisis for the taxi drivers, some Fianna Fáil backbenchers, as well as Deputy O'Dea, have persisted in leading taxi drivers up the garden path to destruction. How sincere are they? Have they put their seats, or even their party membership in this House, on the line? That would be a test of conviction, of being true friends, but no, they have cynically manipulated taxi drivers, dropped them in it and betrayed them.
There should be deregulation of the taxi business. I have been of the opinion for some time that the taxi men's leaders were leading them into a cul-de-sac, that the failure to make proposals themselves to improve the service was a bad mistake, that public opinion in this city in particular would eventually force something akin to what has now happened, that their public relations effort was atrocious, that their espousal of confrontation was bound to lead to their defeat in any contest for public opinion, and that a row with a PD Minister – grasping at any straw for public rehabilitation – was a recipe for disaster.
The taxi men have been badly advised and badly led, but I object to the way in which they have been vilified in some sections of the media by some commentators. Some taxi men have come across badly and have behaved badly, damaging themselves and their cause in the process. Threats to the media amounted to pure stupidity. Those people who were so loud and confrontational on the streets and who were involved in acts of inexcusable intimidation at Dublin Airport were only a small minority of the taxi drivers involved in the dispute. The great majority are ordinary decent people who are afraid for their future and that of their families, and rightly bitter because of their feelings of betrayal.
There are some who deserve what they have got. I refer to the speculators, those with many plates, some of whom have never driven a taxi in their lives. They have speculated and, like all speculators, they win some and lose some. This time they have lost and I have no sympathy for them. There are others, however, who deserve our sympathy and full compensation for their loss. I refer to the man or woman with his own plate and car doing a day's work and working long hours, ordinary decent hard-working people whose wit and conversational capacity have added much to the reputation of our city and country for conversation. I refer to the cosy, who has been used, abused and exploited by those who sit at home or have other occupations and who use the wealth generated by the sweat of the cosies on foreign holidays or other similar luxuries. I refer to the widow – one is particularly well known to me – who was bequeathed a plate as a form of pension and now, having no other pension, must think in terms of employment to keep body and soul together. Some have had to come out of retirement to take up low paid jobs in order to do so. I refer to others who have been forced to retire because of bad health, for example, and are now at wit's end. All these people deserve our sympathy and, more than that, they require to be fully compensated. I hope to hear this from the mouth of the Minister for Finance later today. They are the people who are suffering and deserve to be fully compensated, not those who have been speculating and led the people mentioned into this dreadful position.
I hope a solution is found before Christmas. We are all aware of the dangers to young people. As the father of young people, I share the fear of parents about their children on the streets of Dublin trying to find their way home. I hate to think of what might happen over Christmas when the lack of taxis will encourage the less responsible to take a chance and have that extra pint or two. Whereas previously they would have called for a taxi, they will now have their cars with them. This is a real danger, if the dispute is allowed to continue over Christmas.
In one respect the Ministers of State, Deputies O'Dea and O'Keeffe, should count their blessings. Those of us who were Ministers or Ministers of State in the Government led by Deputy John Bruton know how long he would have tolerated such activity. He would not have tolerated it for 24 hours. That would have been the maximum. That is only right. The Ministers of State who have been so irresponsible in their breach of ministerial responsibility and the Taoiseach who allowed them to do so have a lesson to learn from the way Deputy Bruton behaved when Taoiseach.