Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

The Government has tied us to an EU-IMF deal that explicitly envisages the sale of State assets to write down debt, and that imposes vicious austerity on ordinary people. The result of this is real hardship for people.

I do not know whether the Taoiseach saw last night's RTE "Prime Time" programme, which showed the kind of hardship experienced by many communities in Dublin and beyond in this State who have been abandoned, and the conditions in which they are living. Does the Taoiseach agree the conditions we saw on last night's programme are unacceptable?

Sinn Féin has raised this issue many times previously, here in the Dáil and elsewhere. We have worked with residents in St. Teresa's Gardens, Dolphin House, Croke Villas, O'Devaney Gardens and many other areas across Dublin and in Limerick and beyond.

The conditions in which many citizens are living-----

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