Holly Cairns
Cork South-West · Social Democrats · Ireland
“At the end of the day, there are a few things that we know and a few things that we do not know. We know the commission of investigation found that it is highly likely there are babies buried on the grounds. We do not know why it made that recommendation. Why? Because the archives are sealed.”
“He now seems to be using that as an excuse for inaction, when what he should be doing is moving heaven and earth to find these children and 19 women who disappeared. Two weeks ago, the Taoiseach told me that Cork City Council should have placed a compulsory purchase order on the land.”
“It knows the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes said it was highly likely that burials had taken place on this land. It has all the evidence of abuse, suspicious deaths, disappeared women and children and likely burial, and the Taoiseach is telling us he is powerless to act because legislation his previous Government d…”
“I want to take up where we left off yesterday. When explaining why the Government was not going to buy Bessborough the Taoiseach said: Excavation without evidence of location is neither feasible nor lawful [because] Under the Institutional Burials Act 2022, the Government can only [start an excavation] where it is satisfied that burials h…”
“The decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála to grant planning permission for apartments at Bessborough is disgusting. This represents yet another failure, a betrayal by the State of the thousands of women and children who were incarcerated and abused there and of the 859 children and 19 women who remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead.”
“I take it from the Taoiseach's reply and his talk about respecting An Bord Pleanála's decision that the answer is that the Government will not be issuing a CPO for the land. The Taoiseach may correct me if I am wrong because I hope the Government is going to make moves to compulsorily purchase the land.”
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“We know that the biggest cause of families entering homelessness is eviction. We know that. It is clear that this Government does not even believe in itself when it comes to addressing the housing crisis, doubling down on failure with the same policies that we know do not work, dusting off old policy measures that have already demonstrably failed. Where is the emergency response? Where is the change in approach? Where is the acknowledgement that your approach does not work?”
“There was a time when homelessness reaching 10,000 people would have been considered a resigning matter for this Government - for any Government - and rightly so, but somehow this Government has succeeded in normalising it. That is extremely dangerous. There is nothing normal about it. A total of 16,766 people are homeless, including 5,274 children. These are not just figures; they are people who are suffering. The Taoiseach stands up week after week and blames the Opposition, the planning laws and EU red tape. The latest fall guy today is immigrants.”
“If this is not the time, when is? Will he introduce a temporary no-fault eviction ban to prevent more children ending up homeless over Christmas?”
“It is even harder for children with additional needs who experience huge trauma from having to live in noisy and cramped conditions. When the homeless crisis is discussed in this Chamber, the Government adopts the position of a kind of concerned commentator, as if it is helplessly watching this human tragedy unfold. The Government is not some kind of hapless bystander powerless to act. It has the full might of the State at its disposal, it just chooses not to do enough about it. It is the Government's housing policies that have put these children and their families in emergency accommodation and those same housing policies will ensure that more children and families join them. The figures speak for themselves - a 99% increase in homelessness in five years. The Taoiseach mentioned the need for backbone in politics at times.”
“When Fianna Fáil first entered Government with Fine Gael in 2020, there were 2,653 children living in emergency accommodation. Under the Taoiseach's watch, in just five years the number of children who are homeless has nearly doubled. That is this Government's record. Every month, that record gets worse and worse. The damage this is doing to thousands of children is immense. One study found that homeless children were more likely to be bullied and twice as likely to require hospitalisation. One clinic treating children in emergency accommodation found that in nearly 30% of cases the child had developmental delays. Increasing numbers of children in emergency accommodation are also presenting with problems associated with malnutrition, including problems like rickets, anaemia, faltering growth, extreme tooth decay and skin conditions.”
“On behalf of the Social Democrats, I thank all of the staff in the Houses and wish them all and Members a very happy Christmas. The most shameful legacy of this Government is its failure to get to grips with homelessness. Every month, the homeless figures are announced and new records are set. There are now 16,766 people living in emergency accommodation - a staggering amount. Included in this figure are 5,274 children. That is 5,274 children who will spend Christmas in cramped hotel rooms or hubs, 5,274 children who will not get to sit down at their own kitchen table to eat Christmas dinner and 5,274 children whose parents are heartbroken. For many of these children, it will be their second or even third year spending Christmas in emergency accommodation.”
“The Taoiseach says he is listening but he has inadvertently told us very clearly that he is not. I ask again whether the Government will introduce a €400 winter payment. Investment in services is welcome and absolutely essentially but, with respect, it is not what I am asking about. For example, investment in special schools will not put food on the table, pay bills or pay people's rent. Ireland has the lowest rate of employment for disabled people in Europe and one of the highest costs of living. People were outside the Dáil last week, in the middle of a storm, to protest. They told us how embarrassing it was for them to have to do that. One in five disabled people in Ireland lives in consistent poverty. That was before the Government slashed their payments.”
“Will the Taoiseach tell the people watching whether the Government will introduce a €400 cost-of-disability payment for the winter? When will it will introduce a permanent weekly payment?”
“Disabled people are clear about what they need, which is an emergency €400 winter payment. That will still leave people €1,000 worse off, but it will at least go some way towards meeting the cost of food and bills this winter. The question is whether the Government is listening. Every time disabled people raise issues about the budget, all we get from Government is deflection. Investment in services is conflated with a recognition of the cost of having a disability. The Government ignored its own reports on the huge additional cost of having a disability and took the decision to cut people's income, removing one-off payments without replacing them with anything permanent. Many people are full of dread about the future because they literally do not know how they will keep food on the table.”
“My question is very simple. Why is the Government not listening to disabled people? Their voices are loud and clear. They are angry about and upset by this Government's decision to slash their incomes by up to €1,400 in the budget. The Disability Federation of Ireland has called this a "devastating setback" which "leaves disabled people poorer, unsupported and excluded." It warned that "without urgent change … disabled people will remain trapped in poverty and exclusion in one of Europe's wealthiest countries." The Government did not listen. Last week, disabled people braved the storm to protest outside the Dáil. One man spoke about relying on food banks because he cannot afford groceries. Another woman described having to go to libraries to stay warm. This is a crisis. It is not sustainable.”
“At the outset, I join others in expressing my utter revulsion at the horrific antisemitic attack in Sydney on Sunday. My thoughts are with the victims, their families, friends and the wider Jewish community. During last year's election campaign, the Taoiseach said his party's guiding principle on disability issues is "nothing about us, without us." I happen to agree with him about the importance of that principle. Put simply, it means listening to disabled people, ensuring people with disabilities have a seat at the table when policy is being formed and listening to their feedback about how policy is working. This matters because disabled people unfortunately have a long history of being spoken for rather than listened to. This is, of course, particularly important when it comes decisions that specifically impact their lives.”
“This is something governments across the world are grappling with and in many ways the horse has already bolted. Social media companies have been around for 20 years and they have never been properly regulated. To date, it has been self-regulation which has amounted to no regulation at all. Now we are playing catch up. One things is clear; the algorithms are increasingly dangerous. Violent, racist and misogynistic content is not just tolerated but it is literally boosted by these algorithms, making them go viral. I recognise there are loads of things in the Taoiseach's list of things the Government is looking at but none of them were the algorithms and a lot of them placed the responsibility on the user and on teaching the user about safety online. What we need to do, as a very first and obvious step, is address the algorithms.”
“This is not just having a hugely damaging impact on children but it is massively corrosive for society. It is spreading misinformation and hate through communities like wildfire. I will be the first to acknowledge this is a hugely complex issue and there are no easy solutions. In know the Minister is currently looking at age verification for social media users. While I think that is part of the solution, it amounts to putting a sticking plaster on a gaping wound. There are also huge privacy concerns about mandating something like a digital wallet to access services online. Each of us in this House knows we have to do more to protect children online. We know the current system is failing them. An obvious first step is to regulate the algorithms that boost extremist content to huge audiences online. By default, those systems should be off.”
“For a start, most social media companies already have an age limit of 13 and we all know that just its not being enforced. Raising the age limit to 16 will similarly be easy to evade with teenagers creating fake accounts using virtual private networks, VPNs. Crucially, delaying access to social media sites does nothing about the recommender algorithms that are feeding children toxic content. We now have mountains of evidence about the threats posed by these algorithms. One study found teenage boys were being "bombarded" with misogynistic content within minutes of signing up to TikTok. Another study found 13-year-old users being shown videos about self harm and suicide within 20 minutes of setting up accounts. Social media platforms now routinely show graphic, violent or racist videos to people who are not looking for that content.”
“Yesterday, the High Court heard details of a deeply disturbing case of child abuse. A 13-year-old boy who abused his six-year-old sister was given a tablet at the age of five. There was no parental controls on the device and he had totally unsupervised access to the Internet. By the age of just six he was viewing pornography for hours every day. This boy ultimately uploaded child abuse images of his sister online, prompting his arrest. Sentencing the boy, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring likened unchecked Internet access to children playing with matches. Details of that shocking case were being heard as Australia introduced its social media ban for children under 16. It is a world first and we will all certainly be watching with huge interest to see how it progresses. However, I have a number of concerns about that kind of ban.”
“During the pandemic, she took out a loan and used her pension to cover the costs to do this. That is who this broken system leans on. People like Anita hold everything together while puppy farms flourish. We need to fix this and we can. We need to cap the number of breeding bitches, restrict the number of litters, fix the staff ratios and fund rescues properly. If we want to be serious about dog welfare, we need to catch up and we need to do it now.”
“Anyone working in animal welfare will tell you the same thing because they are the ones who are picking up the pieces of a system that encourages people to mass-produce animals like they are products to go on a shelf. Rescues are held to strict standards. They face inspections, audits and endless paperwork and scrape by on tiny grants from the Department of agriculture. Meanwhile, another arm of the same Department gives out breeding licences with almost no limits. How can a Department demand rigorous standards from those saving animals while giving free rein to those churning them out? It is completely ridiculous. Skibbereen Animal Rescue was founded in 1998 by Anita Douglas, who sadly passed away last year. She was an extraordinary woman who cared deeply for the animals in her care.”
“We all know what the consequences of that are: dogs kept in appalling conditions and not getting the treatment they need; dogs who spend every waking minute terrified and in pain; dogs who are not socialised and have serious behavioural issues; and puppies that are born into simply horrendous conditions. The current staffing guidelines are absurd. It is recommended there is one staff member for 25 breeding females. If each of those has a litter of six, we are talking about one person being expected to care for 175 animals. That is not animal welfare; it is systemic neglect. Dogs need care and attention. They need to be fed, watered and loved. No one person can provide that for 175 dogs. Breeding standards should prioritise welfare over profit.”
“I thank my colleague, Deputy Jennifer Whitmore, for all of her work on this issue and all of her passion on it. Ireland's dog breeding system operates without any real oversight or much compassion and it desperately needs to be addressed. Something many people are not aware of is that we are the puppy farm capital of Europe. Thousands of dogs are exported from here every year and flown all over the world. It is ridiculous, cruel and incredibly lucrative. We need restrictions on the number of breeding dogs and the number of litters they can have over their lifetime. Without that, the system will continue to encourage breeders to push dogs way beyond their limits.”
“Disabled people were already disproportionately living in poverty, and now their payments have been cut. I am going to again ask the Minister the two questions that I initially asked. Will the Government introduce an emergency winter disability payment? Will it finally introduce a permanent cost-of-disability payment? The last budget before this one recognised the cost of disability. Now, the Government has abandoned it.”
“The Minister is saying there will be a committee to start looking at schemes. I want to highlight the fact there has been committee after committee after committee on disability, and there has been report after report after report, and they all have the same finding: there is a huge added cost to having a disability. We know that people with disabilities in Ireland are living in consistent poverty above and beyond other European countries. We know they have a lower chance of being employed as disabled persons in this country. The Government has had all the committees and reports it needs. People are outside protesting today to tell the Government that they just need action now. They do not need another committee or another report. They do not need to wait until the next budget. There is a cost-of-living crisis now.”
“The people protesting today are telling the Government how they feel - how they feel about the litany of broken promises, how they feel about consistently being failed, and how they feel about their Government slashing their income by €1,400 in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”
“At the time the Fine Gael-Labour Government said it would replace it immediately and more than a decade later there is still no sign of it. One of the many payments in the Minister's pre-election giveaway budget was a one-off cost-of-disability payment. A one-off payment for an everyday cost was obviously insulting enough, but then, incredibly, the Government abolished the payment entirely and did not replace it with anything, as if the costs of having a disability somehow disappeared overnight. It is not the first time that targeted supports for disability have been removed at the stroke of a pen. In 2013, personal transport grants for disabled people were abolished. At the time, the Fine Gael-Labour Government said it would replace it immediately. More than a decade later, there is still no sign of it.”
“This is why a weekly cost-of-disability payment is precisely the kind of support the Government should be prioritising, but instead of doing that, the Government did the opposite and reduced people's incomes, pushing them even further into poverty. One of the many payments in the Minister's pre-election giveaway budget was a one-off cost-of-disability payment. A one-off payment for an everyday cost was obviously insulting enough, but then, incredibly, the Government abolished the payment entirely and did not replace it with anything, as if the costs of having a disability somehow disappeared overnight. It is nothe first time targeted supports for disability have been removed at the stroke of a pen. In 2013 personal transport grants for disabled people were abolished.”
“Both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste promised during the election that disabled people would be prioritised, but at the first available opportunity those commitments were abandoned. This Government seems to think income supports for disabled people are somehow optional, because they were cut to the bone. We have heard a lot from this Government about the need to target resources at those who need them most. That was apparently the guiding principle behind this budget. That is a nice soundbite but it does not stand up to any scrutiny because we know that huge numbers of disabled people are living in poverty. Every day, people are struggling not just with the soaring costs we all face in energy, food and housing, but with the enormous additional cost of having a disability.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Disabled people have been failed by this Government. In its record €9.4 billion budget, developers and fast food chains were prioritised. They have been handed tax breaks that will cost the State nearly €5 billion over the next four years. To help pay for that, the income of disabled people was slashed. According to the Disability Federation of Ireland, people's allowances have been reduced by €1,400. This is devastating for so many people who are barely scraping by. Successive Governments have ignored the rights of disabled people but their treatment by this Government feels particularly cruel. That is why so many people are protesting outside the Dáil today - they feel betrayed.”
“Multiple Ministers are now saying that net migration is too high but net migration reduced by 25% last year to fewer than 60,000 people. Of the people coming here, about 50% are Irish, UK or EU citizens. The vast majority of the rest are those who are here on work permits to keep our hospitals open, build the homes we desperately need and keep our hospitality sector afloat. Claims for international protection applications are also down significantly, by 40% this year. Why, then, is the Taoiseach and his Government choosing to frame it so negatively? The truth is we need people to come here and work. Our critical public services would grind to a halt if they did not. These workers are telling us they feel a shift, that racism is on the rise and they are reconsidering staying in Ireland and that is the real migration crisis.”
“The Minister for justice's plans are entirely focused on framing migration as a negative. There has been no attempt to tackle rising hate and racism.”
“These are shocking violent incidents and they are now happening at an alarming frequency. I am hugely concerned about where this is going and where it might lead. For centuries, Irish people were forced to emigrate all over the world. For that reason, we have always understood migration and have been hugely welcoming but a divisive, hateful and dangerous narrative about migrants is now taking hold. This is not helped by a Government and some in opposition who continually frame migration as a problem or migrants as a burden. While this explosion in hate is mainly directed at migrants, it is experienced by people of colour. When difference is vilified, people's skin colour makes them all a target. The Government has spent months talking about migration and is now vocal about wanting to reduce it.”
“It is particularly important to highlight the many positive stories of migration and integration now because we are seeing the horrific consequences of rising hate across the country. This week alone, there have been reports of three separate violent attacks. A Brazilian delivery worker, André Oliveira, was set upon by ten people in Dublin and beaten on the head with pieces of wood. He had to have brain surgery and is still recovering in hospital. Three Afghan asylum seekers were also attacked by a large group of up to 14 people who followed them with motorbikes and a car. During a co-ordinated and sustained assault, the attackers screamed racist slurs as they beat the men and smashed up their car. In another incident, a food truck belonging to a Venezuelan family who moved here in 2018 was set on fire and destroyed.”
“Yesterday's historic visit by President Zelenskyy allowed us to reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Ukraine. It was also an opportunity to mark the huge efforts of people here who stood with Ukraine. Since Russia's illegal invasion nearly four years ago, 120,000 Ukrainian refugees have been welcomed here. In every corner of the country, Ukrainian men, women and children are now valued members of communities. While it was undoubtedly challenging at times to find accommodation, people rose to that challenge. More than 40,000 Ukrainian people have been accommodated by more than 22,000 hosts since the outbreak of the war. This scale of support is something we should always recognise and always celebrate.”
“There is one very clear thing this Government could do to try to help the process, to try to make it less hostile towards victims, and that is an outright ban on people's counselling notes being used in court. Will the Government reconsider this?”
“What the Minister proposes to bring forward in relation to people's counselling notes is basically a new version of the status quo . It is that people's counselling notes can be used against them in court. I feel the need to very clearly break this down. We know that the court process retraumatises victims of sexual assault and rape. We know that the percentage of women who get justice for rape is absolutely minuscule as a result of that because people do not want to go to court. What is another way of looking at that? The percentage of people who are convicted is minuscule. That results in people being quite likely to get away with raping somebody. That is the reality. Why is the process traumatising? Let us look at it. One thing is your counselling notes being used against you in a trial. It is despicable.”
“I asked, if this Government really has a zero-tolerance approach to this issue, how does it square that with nine counties not having a refuge space? When will refuge spaces be provided in every county? That is what I asked and I did not get an answer. I also asked if the Government would ensure that women's counselling notes could not be weaponised any more in sexual assault and rape trials. I did not get an answer. Will the Taoiseach answer those questions now?”
“These are women who contribute so much to their families, friends and communities and who are routinely and relentlessly terrorised in their own homes. They are women whose lives are being ruined by controlling, abusive and violent men. Violence against women is not a women's problem; violence against women is a men's problem. The common denominator when women are attacked is invariably men. This is an issue that will never be fully addressed until more men join the fight against it and call out and report family, friends, colleagues and strangers who belittle, intimidate or insult women. I raised violence against women here yesterday but I am raising it again today because it is a daily nightmare for tens of thousands of women out there and I was not happy with the answers I received yesterday to my questions.”
“Last week, Stella Gallagher was killed in Cork. At her funeral mass yesterday, her brother-in-law said Ms Gallagher had an inbuilt generosity and was always doing things for others. These are the stories of just three women in the news on the week of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, one of whom is now dead. If I were to attend any court in any part of the country on any day of the week, I would find more brutality and more tragedy for women who should be leading full and happy lives. There are so many women out there who spend every day trying to make themselves small, invisible even, who are desperate not to say the wrong thing in the wrong tone of voice or with the wrong expression, all so they do not set him off, do not make him angry, do not make him upset.”
“On Monday, a man with an axe attacked a woman in Leixlip in her home before setting it on fire. The man, her former partner, was out on bail for previously assaulting her when he broke in and attacked her. She managed to escape and is now being treated for serious injuries in hospital. Yesterday morning, there was another vicious attack. A woman who answered her front door in Dublin was doused in petrol and set alight. She is also now in a critical condition and being treated in hospital. These attacks occurred less than 24 hours apart. Their depravity has shocked the country. Both women were attacked in their own homes, where they should have been safest. They are not the only ones. Every day, all over the country, women endure violence, harassment, assaults and intimidation. Some of them will die because of it.”
“As I said, we welcome some of the moves that have been made on this issue by this Government and the previous one, but it is time to get real and get to grips with the reality of gender-based violence in this country. I asked the Minister two questions and I will ask them again. When will the Government ban the use of counselling notes in court and when will those nine counties have a domestic violence refuge space?”
“I acknowledged that some work has been done in this area. However, when the Minister says the Government will continue its approach of zero tolerance, it is important to highlight that it needs to get real on this issue. He is talking about zero tolerance. Let us compare that with the fact nine counties are without a refuge space. The reality for women in violent homes in those counties is they have nowhere to go and are forced to stay in unsafe homes. There is nothing about this that speaks zero tolerance. We are talking about situations where women's counselling notes are allowed to be used against them in court in cases of rape and sexual assault. Nothing about that spells zero tolerance to people watching today.”
“How is toxic and abusive content aimed at demeaning, threatening and humiliating women allowed to proliferate online? I could go on and on but I am running out of time. We need an emergency response. We need this to be treated like the epidemic that it is. Today is international day for the elimination of violence against women. Will the Government ban the use of counselling notes from courtrooms? When will refuge spaces be provided in every county?”
“That is more than 1 million people. That is probably an under-reporting. What is being done about it? It seems like pervasive levels of violence against women are something we are somehow just supposed to accept and tolerate as the price of being a woman. The Government has done some work in this area and I welcome the new agency Cuan that has been set up to tackle gender-based violence but why has progress on the basics been so slow? How are there still nine counties in Ireland without a women's refuge? How are women's counselling notes still at risk of being used in trials for rape and sexual assault? How is there still uncertainty about whether offences like stalking and coercive control can be included in a planned domestic violence register?”
“This case highlights yet again why women rarely feel safe when they are out at night and why we do not jog or run when it gets dark, why we tightly grip keys when we walk, why we rarely wear headphones so we can be alert to sounds around us and why we are hyper vigilant about men walking behind us when we are alone. It is because nowhere is safe. Violence against women is an epidemic in our society. Every day in court and crime reports we read of horrific cases involving women who have been beaten, sexually assaulted, raped or murdered. We know some of their names, the hugely courageous women who have spoken out like Bláthnaid Raleigh and Natasha O'Brien. Too often, in the absence of high-profile cases, there is a lack of political focus on this issue. The grim reality is the 52% of women in Ireland have experienced sexual violence.”
“These are the words of a remarkably strong words of a teenager from west Cork after her rapist was jailed yesterday for six years: I could see my house just before he dragged me down the shortcut and started doing unimaginable things to me ... It made me feel so defeated - if it can happen so close to home it can happen anywhere. Aged just 17 when she was attacked as she walked a short distance home, she told the court yesterday that she thought she was going to die. She spoke out because she wanted other victims of sexual violence to know that they are not alone. I want to commend on her incredible bravery.”
“That is not in the plan. We put forward suggestions like the State acquiring a modular homes factory, zoning land for affordable housing and introducing a vacancy tax with teeth.”
“The only thing more predictable than this Government's plans failing is the Taoiseach's weekly attempt to come in here and blame the Opposition, the planning system or the courts for a mess of the Government's own creation. The fact is the Government is driving housing off a cliff and the best the housing Minister can do is to tell people to hang in there. Hang in there and do what exactly? Should they hang in there and pay rents of €2,000 or €3,000 per month indefinitely? Should they hang in there and pay €500,000 for what the Government calls a starter home? At what point will the Government admit its plan is not working and listen to some of the ideas coming from the Social Democrats? We have continually proposed policy measures that would make a huge difference. The Taoiseach mentioned the State savings scheme.”
“Under the Government's latest so-called affordable housing scheme, a minimum salary of €56,000 is required to buy a one-bed apartment. What is affordable about that? That is too expensive for teachers, retail workers, gardaí, nurses and the vast majority of workers on average incomes. The Taoiseach's old plans failed these people and let us face it: the new one will too. The Government has no credibility on housing. Its record is one of continued failure and continued refusal to acknowledge it, no matter how bad things get but strip away all the spin and this is what the latest housing plan amounts to: a public declaration of failure. Instead of changing course, it is trying to avoid being held to account, removing targets so it is easier to disguise its failure. You could not make it up.”
“It is clear to everyone paying attention that the housing Minister is bereft of new ideas, dusting off old policy measures that have demonstrably failed. The Government wanted to reduce apartment sizes to reduce costs, something that has been tried not once but twice: Deputy Alan Kelly did it first when he was housing Minister in 2015, followed by Eoghan Murphy in 2018. It did not work on either of those occasions. I know, the Taoiseach knows and we all know it will not work now. The Government had a chance to abandon those plans this week when it was forced to withdraw them at the High Court but we are told it is still determined to plough on. Tens of thousands of people across this country were hoping against hope for a radical reset of housing policy. With this plan, they are left with their head in their hands.”
“In the lead-up to the last general election, the Taoiseach cynically misled the public about how many homes would be delivered. This was a blatant attempt to give the impression he was turning the corner on housing delivery. In reality, he was driving it off a cliff. We were told 40,000 homes would be delivered in 2024; in fact, it was 30,300, nearly 25% short of the target. The Taoiseach and Government have been consistently moving the goalposts when it comes to housing targets. Now, in the most blatant move to avoid accountability yet, they have elected to take the goalposts off the pitch entirely because not only have they removed annual targets from their long-awaited, much-hyped housing plan but the overall target goes beyond the lifetime of the Government. I have to ask: is the Taoiseach actually serious?”
“We saw in the recent election of President Catherine Connolly that this change is at our fingertips, that her hopeful vision for a new Ireland resonated across the country and that this vision can become a reality. The Social Democrats will continue to do what we have always done, which is to propose constructive and progressive solutions and continue to work to hold this Government to account, to work towards a change of Government and, ultimately, to work towards a change of approach.”
“We are a wealthy country with so much potential that has yet to be realised. The crises we face in housing, in healthcare, in disability services, in childcare and in nature are not inevitable. They are not written in stone. They can be tackled and they can be surmounted but we need an acknowledgement from Government in its new incarnation that what they have been doing is not working, that the wrong political choices caused all of these crises and that the right ones can resolve them. For people out there who are watching at home and feeling a huge disconnect from the words they hear from Government Ministers and from the reality they see in their own lives of strained family budgets, of overdue bills, of threadbare public services and a lack of critical infrastructure, it is important to note that real change is possible.”