Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As others have said, changes in personnel will really mean nothing unless it makes a real change in people's lives. In order to make that change, it would have been necessary to have a new vision.

I wish all of those who have been elevated well and I know that on a personal level this is a very important day for them. There is no doubt, however, that this is still the same Government that was elected in 2011. To mix metaphors, this is a game of two halves, and when the Government was elected, it came in with a fair wind. As regards the second half, however - irrespective of how long it will run for - one cannot say it will have a fair wind. That is because in the local and European elections the people very definitely said that they needed a radical change in direction.

In the last general election there were a number of big issues, including debt, which was a primary issue for citizens. It was the crux of their concerns. This year, we will spend in excess of €8 billion servicing the national debt, which is the same amount we will spend on our entire education system. That continues to be the difference between having and not having hope for the future.

There was supposed to be radical reform and a democratic revolution. There was also supposed to be major institutional reform. Unfortunately, the political reform has been superficial, while institutional reform has been a code for cuts in health and education services. Very often we look at such institutions and think this country is stuck together with sellotape. It is not the reform that people had a right to expect.

The banks were to be taken in hand and made to function. We will say as little as possible about that, but there is no better example of there being two Irelands. The same personnel are in the Bank of Ireland, with the same big pay-offs for those at the helm. That is not lost on people.

As I said, this is very much a game of two halves, but there is no fair wind this half, so those taking up their new portfolios today will have a major task. At a recent conference on the economist William Beveridge, Professor Tony Fahey said that a revolutionary moment in world history is a time for revolutionary actions, not for patching up. We have seen too much patching up occurring to date. I would hope that the new people in Cabinet, although we have yet to hear from those Ministers, will actually deliver something a lot more challenging. The one thing I do welcome, however, is the initiative on housing.

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