Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

-----and actually stick with their manifesto, which was to abolish them, not to put the question to a commission or suspend them. Fianna Fáil will be implicated in the policies of this Government.

For all the talk of new politics, looking through the programme for Government, it is clear that it continues the neoliberal trend we have seen in the last number of years. The first commitment it gives is to stick with the fiscal straitjacket imposed by the EU, which has led to a huge crisis in our public services, the health system and housing. By the way, there are no targets to reduce waiting lists, build social housing on a scale needed by local authorities, or any of the other issues that I am sure we will get a chance to debate soon. Neither is there any advancement in that programme of the desire for social change, particularly on key social issues such as repealing the eighth amendment of the Constitution, which is buried on page 158 of a 160-page document. It mentions setting up a citizens' convention, which is completely undemocratic and evades any responsibility. Despite all the talk of gender quotas, women are barely mentioned in the document. There is certainly no reflection of the desire for a separation of church and State, nor any reflection of the diversity that exists.

I have a question for the so-called Independents who are propping up this Government. What exactly is the point of voting for an Independent? In my opinion, most people who voted for Independents thought they were voting for people who were independent of the system and the establishment, and certainly independent of Fine Gael. Instead, however, they got people who are going in to prop up a Government either for personal advancement or for a pet project in their own area. People who voted Independent should mark this; they will have to vote left if they want real change that will challenge the establishment and the system.

Both inside and outside the Dáil, the Anti-Austerity Alliance and People Before Profit will work to advance the project of building a new party to represent workers and replace the Labour Party, which abandoned them. One need only look at events in America - not at Trump, but at the likes of Sanders - where such policies can gain huge momentum in a short time.

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We need a genuine left Government which will challenge the status quo and capitalism as well as taking the vast wealth, underlined in report after report, under democratic public control and putting people's needs before profit. This is the only way we are going to be able to deal with the burning issues of our time.

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