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

I am beginning to wonder if the purpose of the Taoiseach's response was to put us into some sort of hypnotic trance whereby he just mumbled back the same nonsense we have been hearing for weeks and does not address any of the issues raised. When one cuts through the waffle, what he is actually saying is that the citizens who built this country over decades of work and who are outside the gates of this House in the rain are obviously missing something, that they are obviously deranged and that they do not understand the wonderful paradise on earth that the Government has created for them. However, it is the Taoiseach who is out of touch and they are ones whose feet are on the ground.

If on paper a pensioner's income in Ireland is more than it is in other European countries, that is because the purchasing power they have and the lack of social services they can access with that money is considerably worse than anywhere else in Europe. These people do not deserve to be bled dry. The Taoiseach talks about them being given favourable treatment. The reality is that the only favourable treatment that has been meted out by his Government is to the wealthy in our society. The top 10% of earners now share the same in that regard as the bottom 10%.

The Taoiseach spoke about us not being able to afford public services. The reality is that we have cut public spending by about 40% since 2008 and at the heart of this is a sea change in social policy. Can the Taoiseach not admit that his Government is wedded to the ideas of neoliberalism and that his strategy is to strip public services to facilitate privatisation and a race to the bottom?

I understand why the Taoiseach is out of touch. It is because his friends in the likes of Independent News & Media, who got a big subsidy and bailout from this State of about €60 million, clap him on the back and tell him he is doing a great job.

Dublin Bus is a vital public service. It is not supposed to break even. It should be subsidised because we have the lowest form of public transport subsidy of any European country. I would like the Taoiseach to explain the reason Dublin Bus workers, who have a modest wage, should forfeit that to facilitate a process whereby every year €50 million is allocated for the West Link toll bridge, a project that was paid for twice over.

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