Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Of course I have nothing against the Tánaiste personally. The point I was trying to make was that he appears to be considerably out of touch with the reality on the ground. His very reference to the idea of youth unemployment being dealt with by his Government is masked by the fact that more than 300,000 people have been driven from our shores over the past four years.

The fact that the Tánaiste is out of touch is revealed by the fact that workers in jobs in the public sector, who are glad to be in jobs, have said clearly, both in the public sector and in Bus Éireann, that they can give no more. The issue is that there is never only one way to deal with a problem. While workers' pay and conditions have been decimated, the number of billionaires in Ireland has almost doubled since the crisis. The number of millionaires has gone up to 751 and the number of people earning over €300,000 - very few of them are in the public service - has increased to almost 10,000 people. Is it not the case that a party that says it stands on the side of ordinary people should see its role as tackling inequality rather than accelerating it? Should the Tánaiste not be dealing with taxing wealth rather than decimating workers' conditions? That was my question.

See this speech in context