Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

This should have been the day when real leadership was shown, when the failed policies of the past were left behind and the people could see, at last, a fair way forward. Today the Labour Party has made its choices and shown its hand. They are all the same after all. No one in the Dáil struggles on €200 a week, has sleepless nights and the feeling of dread in the pit of his or her stomach when the euro and cents do not add up. Has any Deputy put cardboard in his or her child's shoes to keep out the wet or told their little one they cannot go to a birthday party? No, he or she has not.

See this speech in context