Mary Lou McDonald
Dublin Central · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“Now he watches as Paudie, his other son, aged 16, deteriorates with the same disease. He says Paudie does not have weeks to wait. He says, "I can't lose him [too]. He is all I have left." That is what is at stake here. This is urgent. Caithfidh an Rialtas an rud ceart a dhéanamh dóibh siúd a bhfuil Friedreich's ataxia orthu.”
“We know that both scramblers and e-scooters are being used by gangs to distribute drugs, to openly and actively intimidate, and to evade the gardaí and, yet, we heard the Garda Commissioner say that there would be no chance of pursuit training until next year because of the EU Presidency. I found that really shocking.”
“Their hopes were very high that the HSE drugs committee would finally approve Skyclarys, but those hopes were to be dashed. The committee decided against approving the drug. Instead, it referred it to a rare disease review group. In other words, one committee passing the buck to another committee.”
“This cruel condition moves relentlessly, ravaging their bodies and their lives, yet the system stands still, putting up obstacle after obstacle, forcing them to wait and wait as time slips by. This drug was approved by the EU Commission back in 2024. Two years on, it is available in France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Czechia.”
“So we are clear, it is not that all of this is frustrating for those living with Friedreich's ataxia; it is actually terrifying for them. I met Emily three or four weeks ago and I was speaking to her again on Tuesday. Even in that short time span, she told me that her swallow and speech had disimproved. We are on the clock here.”
“There is someone the Tánaiste knows very well in the Public Gallery. She is the unstoppable and heroic Cara Darmody. Cara has just completed her third 50-hour protest outside the Dáil, calling for real action for children and young people waiting for an assessment of need.”
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“There is absolute clarity that the Taoiseach's concern and priority is these funds, their reputation and standing and their ability to have what he calls a stable environment to return big profits.”
“Let me assure the Taoiseach that I pay the very closest attention to the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of people who live in rental properties. I pay particular attention to those who are literally ripped off month in and month out and really struggle to meet their rent. I pay more attention again to those who have lost their homes because they simply could not make the rent or because they have had the place sold from under them. The Taoiseach announced very clearly an end to rent pressure zones. The Tánaiste disagrees with him and it seems he has accused him of making up policy on the hoof, so there seems to be some division in the Government.”
“The Government has no new ideas on housing and no vision for the future of housing so the Taoiseach reverts to type and doubles down on the very approach that has failed abysmally. Is léir nach bhfuil tuairimí nua ar bith maidir le tithíocht ag an Rialtas seo atá nua, mar dhea, sa chaoi ina bhfuil siad ag lútáil mar a bheadh giolla de na cistí rachmasacha réadmhaoine. Why will the Taoiseach punish renters? What are these unpopular decisions he and his Fianna Fáil colleagues are discussing?”
“That is not Pat Farrell; that is the Taoiseach speaking to the Irish Examiner last Saturday. Fianna Fáil is back in government, once again being led by the nose by lobbyists, defending the interests of big property funds, housing policy being shaped again by those who stand to make massive profit. The Taoiseach's concern is to rehabilitate the standing of vulture funds and cuckoo funds which have done untold damage. Is he aware shares in IRES REIT, the biggest corporate landlord in Ireland, jumped to an eight-month high on the back of his comments about removing rent pressure zones? Everybody knows there needs to be private investment in housing but we do not require the Government to give carte blanche to these funds to enter the Irish market with a free hand and rip people off. That is the approach that got us into this mess.”
“The Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael record is one of sky-high house prices, rip-off rent and truly shameful record levels of homelessness. They may cast themselves as a new Government, but they are not bringing new or constructive ideas to the table. No, it is more of the same. Who has the Taoiseach's ear? Who is he listening to? He is singing from the same hymn sheet as the lobby groups for big institutional property funds. "Institutional funds are an easy mark for abuse and misrepresentation". That is Pat Farrell, CEO of lobby group Irish Institutional Property, writing in the Business Post on 2 February. Of course the Taoiseach knows he is also a former Fianna Fáil general secretary and Senator. "There's been a tendency in the debate in Ireland to attack funds".”
“The coalition the Taoiseach leads was put together on the back of a grubby deal with Deputy Michael Lowry and his group of Independents. Since then, he and Simon Harris, the Tánaiste, have been found out for misleading the public on housing delivery figures during the election campaign. Now, he announces he will remove rent pressure zones in order to encourage private investment in housing. In other words, he will remove the only modest protection afforded to renters under this Government and leave them at the mercy of greedy corporate landlords. That is his plan. It is further reported in the media that the Taoiseach has warned his party members to brace themselves for what he calls unpopular decisions that will be taken on housing. What are those decisions?”
“Any government truly on the side of humanity would enact it immediately. No ifs, buts, delays, prevarication or new legislation, but the occupied territories Bill now.”
“To make a difference, they do not have to do what Mary Manning and her friends did 41 years ago. They do not have to stand for years on the picket line in the cold, wind and rain. They simply can enact the occupied territories Bill. They can step forward tonight and announce that to the world, and in doing so, they will give the people of Palestine that same light of hope the Dunnes Stores workers gave to Nelson Mandela in his prison cell. It is the hope that they are not alone, the hope that those who persecute, oppress and slaughter them will be confronted and held to account, and the hope that, one day, the sun will rise on the faces of their children in a time of freedom, justice, peace and nationhood. This hope is contained in the words and provisions of the occupied territories Bill.”
“It is a blatant U-turn and a monumental act of bad faith designed to delay the imposition of sanctions against the Israeli regime. It is cynical and shameful. Caithfidh an Rialtas an Bille um chríocha faoi fhorghabháil, an Bille a bhfuil tacaíocht an phobail tugtha dó, a achtú le práinn. Ní le haithris a fhaightear réidh le héifeacht na reachtaíochta. In 2008, the man who is now Taoiseach spoke at the unveiling of one of those plaques on Henry Street dedicated to the Dunnes Stores workers. He rightly said Ireland is proud of their courageous actions. Eleven shopworkers with no power other than their moral determination, principles and humanity stood up to apartheid South Africa and helped to defeat it. Today, the Tánaiste and Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach, hold the two most powerful offices in the land.”
“The assertion by US President Donald Trump, the leader of the free world, that the dispossessed, impoverished and brutalised refugee population of Gaza should be permanently exiled to facilitate Israeli occupation and those wishing to construct a dystopian riviera is astounding in its cruelty and demonstrates utter disregard for human rights and international law. The only way to stop Israel is to sanction Israel. Just as Ireland took the lead by sanctioning apartheid South Africa in 1987, it must take the lead today by sanctioning apartheid, genocidal Israel. That means enacting the occupied territories Bill, the one that is here and ready to go, not some pale imitation. The amendment that the Tánaiste has proposed to our motion confirms that this Government has walked away from the occupied territories Bill.”
“It has been given carte blanche to commit war crimes and human rights violations at will, and to tear asunder international law without ever facing sanction or accountability. Worse still, the words of support and common cause to the genocidal Netanyahu regime and the arming of Israel by the United States, Britain and others in Europe is an obscenity.”
“The ordinary people of Ireland stand once again on the right side of history and they call on their Government to stand on that side of the line by enacting the occupied territories Bill, which would ban the trading of goods and services into Ireland from Palestinian lands that have been colonised, occupied and illegally settled by Israel. Not only is it a legal response to Israel's brutal crimes but it chimes directly with the values of the Irish people. The idea that the Government would now move to replace the Bill with a watered down version, a counterfeit Bill that enfeebles legislation, would represent a stunning betrayal of the Palestinian people. Let us be clear. The cradle of Israel's apartheid system and genocide in Gaza is the impunity gifted to it by the international community for decades.”
“On his visit to Ireland following his release in 1990, Mandela said that because of the workers' campaign, millions of South Africans saw that "ordinary people far away from the crucible of apartheid cared for our freedom". Today that crucible of apartheid is found in Palestine, in the brutality inflicted on its people by the colonising, occupying, dehumanising and criminal Israeli regime. The crescendo of this cruel apartheid is the genocide perpetrated against the children, women and men of Gaza. For 15 months now, the ordinary people of Ireland have stood resolutely and unwaveringly on the side of human rights, justice and the rule of international law. They have stood up for the Palestinian people. They have marched and called for an end to the genocide, to the occupation and to Israel's apartheid.”
“If you walk down Henry Street in Dublin, just outside Dunnes Stores you will find two plaques. The plaques are inscribed with the names of 11 courageous Dunnes Stores workers who went on strike in 1984 and took to the picket lines in protest against the company's handling of goods from apartheid South Africa. For more than two and a half years, Mary Manning and her colleagues sustained their inspirational stand. It was a stand which directly led to the then Government introducing a ban on the importation of goods from South Africa. The heroic protest of the Dunnes Stores workers is often acknowledged as one of the international campaigns that contributed directly to the ending of the apartheid regime. Nelson Mandela said that hearing of the workers' protest helped to sustain him while he was imprisoned.”
“ESB Group is enormously profitable. It receives significant funding from the taxpayer by way of the public service obligation levy. Yesterday, the CEO of the ESB stated that the cost of repairing damage to the network caused by the recent storm would be borne by customers in their bills. We have previously discussed the hardship that has been wrought by the storm, where so many of the ESB's customers went without power for weeks. Indeed, some 17,000 remain without power. Remember that over the past four years, ESB customers have been squeezed by rip-off prices, paying among the most expensive rates in the European Union. Now the ESB, which is sitting on vast profits, tells customers that they will foot the repair bill. What does the Taoiseach propose to do about this? It is very clear that there must be an intervention.”
“I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Contrary to the Taoiseach's assertion, the actual priority for this new cobbled-together grubby-deal Government is actually jobs for the boys, and for the few girls who might be lucky enough to make an appearance. Its desire to divvy out the spoils of government is unparalleled in the history of this House. The Order of Business proposes more positions, more allowances and more expense for the taxpayer but the Government wants all of this without even basic pre-legislative scrutiny. The Government expects us to tolerate this going through on the nod. That is not going to happen and it is completely and utterly unacceptable.”
“Could the Taoiseach go a bit further and make it explicit that the figure of 40,000 was wrong and was not delivered in 2024? Could he express, even, some regret for using that figure in the course of the election?”
“For the first time, the Taoiseach and, by extension, the Government have openly accepted that they have missed their targets. I suppose that is progress of some sort. The fact remains that the Taoiseach deliberately and repeatedly used a figure of 40,000 new homes for 2024 when he has to have known that this was not going to be delivered. He cites Deutsche Bank but he knows that by the final quarter, the CSO, ESRI, the Central Bank itself, all of that data reflected that 40,000 was always fictitious. It was never realisable, yet the parties of Government, the Taoiseach and Deputy Simon Harris in particular, insisted on repeating a falsehood of 40,000 again and again. This was specifically to dodge the very necessary debate around the "how" of delivery.”
“It is bad enough that the Taoiseach has failed to solve this crisis but worse, he openly and knowingly deceived the public on this matter in the course of the last election. The Taoiseach is on the record repeatedly doing just that, so he needs to set the record straight. Cur i gcéill a bhí ann ó thús nuair a dúirt an Taoiseach go dtógfaí 40,000 teach sa bhliain 2024. Ba chóir dó agus don Tánaiste, Simon Harris, an fhírinne a insint. This is very straightforward. The Taoiseach and Simon Harris repeatedly gave false information to the public regarding new house builds. The figure of 40,000 was simply untrue. The Taoiseach now has the opportunity to correct the record and I ask that he avail of that opportunity today.”
“The first is the report from the Central Statistics Office, which states that only 30,000 new homes were built in 2024. That is a far cry from the 40,000 homes the Taoiseach parroted throughout the election campaign. This report reflects the fact that the number of new homes has fallen from that of the previous year, 2023. Yesterday, figures released by Construction Information Services Ireland indicated that only 29,136 homes were built last year. That is not even 30,000, not to mind the 40,000 the Taoiseach put up in lights for the election. The truth is that his claim of 40,000 new homes for 2024 was a load of bull, and well he knew it. However, he chose to repeat the claim again and again in an effort to mislead voters. The housing crisis touches every part of our society. It has driven desperation and despair.”
“Clearly, the claim of 40,000 new homes for 2024 was being used as an election ploy, an attempt to convince people that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had turned the corner on housing. Here is the catch: none of it was true. The figure of 40,000 new homes was pure fiction, a trick designed to mislead the public because the Government could not face an election based on the actual facts of its performance on housing, and not alone had the rate of house-building stagnated on the Taoiseach's watch but it was in fact going backwards. Now his election lies have been exposed and he has been caught out. Two reports published in the past two weeks have exposed the Taoiseach’s election gimmick and laid bare again his failure on housing.”
“I am more than happy to speak for ten minutes; I have a lot to say. Forty thousand is the number of new homes the Taoiseach and Simon Harris said they would build last year. It is a number that was repeated again and again throughout 2024, going into overdrive in the lead-up to last November’s general election. Let me recall for the Taoiseach some of his bluster. On social media in October, he said the country was coming close to having 40,000 homes built in 2024. On Virgin Media, again in October, he said "we've now got to about 40,000" new homes. Of course, he was not on his own. Simon Harris first floated the figure of 40,000 in August of last year. In October, he was at it again, saying new builds would be "well upwards towards 40,000", and he repeated this claim at the Fine Gael manifesto launch in November.”
“Another five years of mediocrity simply will not cut it. The priorities for Government must be to ensure that everybody can have a home of their own, to transform our health services, to deliver affordable childcare and to really tackle the cost of living. These things can and must be fixed but they will only be fixed by moving beyond the broken politics that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have followed for generations. I believe the day will come when we will have a new government for working people. That is why we will work harder than ever to represent people, to stand up for them, to fight their corner, to convince and to reassure more people that there is a better way.”
“Israel must be held to account. There have to be consequences for the Netanyahu regime and its genocidal actions. I feel certain there will be a united call from these benches, the Opposition benches, and from the Irish public that this Government should do the right thing by Palestine. I have said before that elections are where Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael make their promises and it is in government where they break them. If this document is the product of Fine Gael's supposed new energy, then I am afraid the tank is running on empty and the lights have gone out. If this document is where Fianna Fáil's moving forward together intends to bring us, then it points in the direction of continued failure. Our people deserve much better. They are entitled to see ambition to make their lives better.”
“-----to set back the goal of ceasing trading with companies that profit from the dispossession, the apartheid and the brutal dehumanisation of the Palestinian people. I regard this as a stunning betrayal. Humanitarian aid is necessary and reconstruction is absolutely vital, but we need to be clear that on their own these are not enough.”
“The day will come when people will have their say on unity, so treading water is not good enough. The Government needs to put Irish reunification at the very heart of its work for the future. For 15 months, the people of Ireland have protested in support of the people of Gaza and Palestine and have stood with them as they faced genocide. They have also repeatedly called on the Government to sanction Israel and to pass the occupied territories Bill as a matter of urgency. Now, despite previous assurances and posturing, Micheál Martin proposes to scrap the Bill-----”
“Any government worth its salt would actively plan and prepare for constitutional change, for the ending of partition and for a united Ireland. In its programme, the Government claims it is committed to the unity of the Irish people. It talks about a focus on investment, reconciliation and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, which is all well and good. However, the document contains no meaningful commitments to achieving Irish unity. There is no plan for unity and no effort to reach out to those with a different view on unity. It dodges entirely the need for a citizens' assembly. The programme is completely silent on how this Government will prepare for Irish unity referendums as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement. Generational change is happening in Ireland.”
“It is not only in housing where their poverty of ambition leaps from the page. Where is the public model of childcare that Simon Harris talked a big game on? Not a whisper. Where is the delivery date for €200 a month childcare - the plan that we had and which you borrowed but are not going to deliver? Where is the specific commitment to abolish the means test for carers? There are just more vague pledges to improve the lives of carers but no specific actions. There is nothing in this document to convince us that the scandal of children with scoliosis and spina bifida being left to wait in agony for their operations will be brought to an end, which is shameful and a shame on you. Irish reunification represents the greatest opportunity for the progress, prosperity and future of our country.”
“Throughout 2020, Micheál Martin, Simon Harris and Darragh O'Brien trumpeted the claim that 40,000 new houses would be built by the end of last year, and they repeated this during the election campaign. Today's CSO full-year report exposed their claim as bluff and spin, with housing completions for 2024 falling far short of that figure, missing even the original target. The fact is that fewer homes were built last year than the year before. Far from turning a corner, as the Taoiseach so frequently claims, they are going around in circles. The programme for Government guarantees that the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael housing disaster will continue, that home ownership will remain beyond the reach of working people and that the need to ramp up the delivery of affordable housing and of council housing will remain unmet.”
“However, we saw that off as a united Opposition, and thank goodness for that. This is a Government built on stroke politics as seen in its programme for Government. This is where things get interesting and where the lofty rhetoric really gets tested, because what is noteworthy is the lack of timelines, specifics and clarity, and the lack of ambition too. The lack of any new ideas is mind-blowing. The outgoing Government's greatest failure was in housing, a failure so profound and so deep that it affects every aspect of our society. However, rather than change direction, which a rational serious government would do, it seeks to dress up your failure as success.”
“The question for the Taoiseach that he has not answered is simply this: what changed? When did he stop considering Deputy Lowry to be a rogue politician? When did he go from viewing him as someone unfit to hold public office to viewing him as someone with whom he wishes to form a Government? The answer is clear: that changed when it suited the Taoiseach and when it suited his interests. This demonstrates that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will do anything to attain and hold on to power at all costs. They prioritise doling out sweeteners to Michael Lowry's group to satisfy the Regional Independents. They attempted to engineer a stroke to allow those TDs to be in government and in opposition at the same time, a move that would make a mockery of this Dáil and undermine the integrity of this House.”
“Communities impacted by crime and antisocial behaviour did not. We need more nurses, therapists, gardaí, teachers and SNAs, but the needs of ordinary people, it seems, are an afterthought. The Government instead drove on to fashion a brazen, grubby deal to grease the wheels of power. If the previous Government was formed on the back of a Micheál Martin U-turn regarding Fine Gael, this Government is formed on the back of a Micheál Martin U-turn regarding Deputy Michael Lowry. We know, following the Moriarty tribunal's findings of corruption, the Taoiseach's view of Deputy Lowry was that he was unfit to hold public office. Described as a rogue politician, demands were made by the Taoiseach for him to resign his seat, but today he is happy to have him as the kingmaker in the formation of this Government.”
“They turned their attention, in other words, to feathering their own nests. Now it feels like a bumper season of "The Late Late Show" for you lot with a Ministry for everyone in the audience: more super junior Ministers, more junior Ministers, more expenses for Ministers. This smacks of entitlement. It is the largest number of junior Ministers in the history of the State. The electorate has every right to ask: "Are we getting value for our money?" Did anybody go to a polling station on 29 November last thinking what Ireland really needed was a raft of new junior and super junior Ministers? I do not think so. Parents who cannot get an assessment of need for their child certainly did not. Patients who cannot get a hospital appointment did not. Mothers and fathers raising children in emergency accommodation certainly did not.”
“Being entrusted with ministerial office is a big responsibility and I genuinely wish anybody determined to make a real and positive difference well. However, mark this: without a radical change of policy and approach, the Cabinet announced tonight will amount only to a rearranging of the deckchairs. As this Government takes office, I have no doubt ordinary people face more of the same. For anybody who believed the leopard had finally changed its spots, the cynical approach to Government formation taken by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the so-called Independents surely disabused them of that notion. Instead of focusing on the challenges facing our people, they wrangled over the rotation of Taoiseach, who got which ministerial office and who got the big meeting room in Leinster House.”
“There has been no real demonstration of respect and advancement for early childhood educators and childcare workers, and thousands of children are on waiting lists. Stress, worry, pressure is the Government parties' record on childcare. Households continue to struggle to make it to the end of the week, light and heat their homes and put food on the table, with soaring grocery bills and rip-off insurance costs, never mind the rent or mortgage. Hard-working people see their wages go out as quickly as they come in, sometimes more quickly. That is the Government parties' record on the cost of living. All these problems existed when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael clubbed together in 2020 and they are still with us today, worse than before, a testament to their collective failure.”
“If that was their priority, and that was their best shot at their priority over five years, then God help us if we see what a mediocre performance on issues they do not care about looks like. People cannot get the healthcare they need when they need it. Our hospitals and accident and emergency departments are constantly overcrowded. Hundreds of thousands of people languish on treatment waiting lists. The trolley crisis is now a daily occurrence; it is mundane. It is taken as read, day in, day out. It is nearly impossible to get a GP or dentist appointment. That is the Government parties' record on health. Working parents fork out the equivalent of a second mortgage on childcare fees. There is a serious lack of places in the system.”
“I am old enough to remember that last time he told us housing was the priority and that he would sort out housing, and that he had heard the electorate and recognised how bad things were. That is what he said and pledged. Where are we now? Many are struggling to put an affordable, secure roof over their heads. There are sky-high house prices and extortionate rents, and those in need of council housing are spending years and years on waiting lists. The Taoiseach presides over a shameful level of homelessness. We have structural, ongoing, growing homelessness in Ireland at a rate none of us imagined or dreamt of. That is the Government parties' record on housing. That is what they have done.”
“All of a sudden, I am transported back to 2020. The Tánaiste spoke of a balanced programme. I have to say what is manifest and obvious: you have got the gender balance wrong. You are very male. Some of you are pale but you are very, very male. In politics in a representative democracy, we should strive to reflect and mirror the communities we represent, inasmuch as we can. I have to say as an Irishwoman, leaving aside that I am a parliamentarian, I find it kind of depressing that again we see the absence of us. I want to put that on the record. The Taoiseach said he has "a positive agenda for change" and that we face historic opportunities. He is always good at grandiose claims at the beginning of the game of politics.”
“Our work and our ambition for building a better, fair, equal and united Ireland has never been more important. We stick to that task with real belief, with renewed hope and refreshed determination. It is in that spirit that I accept this nomination.”
“Leanaimid ag obair chun tacaíocht a mhealladh ar son rogha eile, seachas Rialtas faoi cheannas Fhianna Fáil agus Fhine Gael chun go mbainfimid lá amach faoi dheireadh le Rialtas ar son an chosmuintir oibre, ar son teaghlaigh agus ar son an phobail. Today will not be our day but our day will come.”
“This is an incredible country. We have the best of people in communities but our communities and people have been let down for generations by bad government for whom the achievement and maintenance of power has been the first priority. The Government normalised the division between the haves and have-nots. You have delivered for the insiders but short-changed working people again and again. Our motivation remains that one day in the not too distant future we will have a government for working people, a government that ensures that people have a home, that they can see a doctor when they are sick, that childcare is affordable and that they have living costs that do not break the bank, and a government to restore the hope in our young people that they can have their opportunity for a good and decent future here in their own country.”
“Working people go to soup kitchens, families struggle for the basics, children wait in agony for life-changing operations, and trolleys line overcrowded hospitals. Why is it that in a country that is so wealthy nothing seems to work? The answer is "Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael". You have no excuses left. The resources are there yet your programme for Government is simply a charter for more of the same and a blueprint for further crises. You have no clear plans to deliver on childcare or to change the lives of low and middle-income workers, there is no clear timeline to address the issues for carers, and there is only a passing interest in the future of our country and the reunification of our island. All you have is a selection of promises, promises that have all been made before and promises that have all been broken before.”
“-----and any attempt to railroad us will be met head on without fear or hesitation. We will stand our ground and we will always stand up for those who depend on us to fight their corner. The people of Ireland have worked hard and the State now has unprecedented wealth and resources: everything needed to build a fair and equal society. The State has never been richer but so many of our people - working people - are left behind. I grew up in Dublin in the 1980s and things were tough but never in my worst nightmares did I think that the soul of our city would carry the weight of so many sleeping bags in doorways, cardboard boxes for shelter, tents lining our canals, and homeless hubs as refuge for so many families. The housing and homeless crisis crystallises the unfair society that all of you have created.”
“I am not happy with what transpired and the fact that the Dáil was repeatedly suspended, but I am resolute in the stance that we as the Opposition took. We stood to defend a very simple but very important principle that no TD can be in government and in opposition at the same time. We pushed back against a brazen attempt to stymie, to silence and to sabotage the Opposition. We collectively represent hundreds of thousands of people-----”
“I thank Teachta Farrell and Teachta Doherty for this nomination. Government, of course, is not about one individual but the person elected as Taoiseach, their politics, their priorities and their values undoubtedly shape the future of the country. The Taoiseach and, by extension, the Government, must lead from the front and by example, demonstrate in word and deed that the public interest comes first, demonstrate courage and humility, honour their word, act with strong spirit and in good faith, mean what you say, and keep promises. These, I believe, are the cornerstones of leadership. What happened here yesterday was the result of arrogant manoeuvring from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Michael Lowry TDs.”
“-----and that no TD can be in government and in opposition at the same time. I would further say that this is not a temporary arrangement for today. There has to be an explicit understanding that, procedurally and in accordance with logic and the value of democracy, that distinction is recognised and respected throughout all of our work. By the way, considerable time could have been saved yesterday had the Government the foresight to simply recognise that logic and the value of that logic to the functioning of the Chamber.”
“It is not agreed. I want to raise again the issue of suspending the House for two weeks. It has been quite some time since the election. We all know that there are huge challenges facing the country and, indeed, an expectation that we all get down to work. I see no reason and no rationale for a further two-week delay. In fact, people will regard it as quite scandalous, given the time-wasting so far, that we would rise for a further two weeks. We object to the Government proposal on that basis.”
“-----which, remember, are elected here by hundreds of thousands of voters to hold this Government to account and express the democratic wishes and desires of those people and communities. I have seen brazen actions by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in past Dáileanna and Governments but this takes the biscuit. Rather than agreeing to temporary measures which afford these Government TDs speaking rights as though they were members of the Opposition, this should have been called out from the get-go. The Ceann Comhairle said she will be independent and fair in her deliberations. What has been proposed today is anything but fair or independent and is completely unacceptable to those of us in Sinn Féin and, I believe, to the Opposition as a whole.”
“Second, the speaking arrangements outlined, or proposed, by the Government Whip underscore again a cynical and unprecedented ruse from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to place their Independent cronies - supporters of the Government - on the Opposition benches and to afford to them the same speaking rights as genuine parties of opposition-----”
“It is astonishing, after weeks and weeks of haggling among the parties that proposed to form Government over who would get which job, and how much they could increase the respective allowance for their record number of Ministers of State, that we find ourselves meeting on the first day of the Dáil and the first action of Government is to propose a further two-week holiday. This is unacceptable. We all know the big issues that face people on the ground and the message to Government needs to be: "Get to work." There is no rationale, no excuse and no reason for further delay and for this two-week holiday.”