Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In 2011 we saw a big shake-up and there was the potential for a realignment of Irish politics. As someone who had left this House and came back in that year, I could see the change not just because of the change in Government but also the depleted Fianna Fáil benches, and I got a sense that things were going to be different. We know that the new Government fought the election on the basis that it was going to bring in change and that there was going to be a new direction and a new approach.

Perhaps I am biased but I think the consensus among most people is that this has not happened. The question arises as to why it has not happened. The Government will say that it was because it did not realise the country was in such difficult economic circumstances and it did not have the inside track on figures and so on. Many people get annoyed and start to disagree with Government spokespersons because they have not seen the new direction and approach. It is much the same. I must agree with the previous speaker in that much of what has been adopted by the Government was proposed by the previous Administration.

People say that there was cronyism and there is anger and frustration among voters about what happened previously. There have been scandals. One looks at the recent GSOC scandal and what many people would regard as the stroke politics of the Minister for Health in respect of the debacle that led to a Minister of State walking out of Government over primary care. My constituency suffered the fallout from that. Some of that money was to have gone into my constituency where people were crying out for primary care services. That is impacting people's health and the local hospital.

I was interested to hear what my constituency colleague, Deputy Maloney, said about the lack of hope. He is right. All of us have a responsibility to give people hope that change is possible. The fact that things did not change and there was no new approach leads people to say that politicians are all the same and say one thing in opposition and do the opposite in government. This undermines politics and politicians. Ministers saying that one says this when one is in opposition does not help us when we try to convince people not only to be active in politics but, at a basic level, to go out and vote.

There were promises of job creation but youth unemployment is nearly 30%. Again, my constituency colleague was talking about Dublin South West, which has some of the highest unemployment rates in the country. We have a youthful population, which is positive, but many of those young people are out of work and the Government has cut the dole for those aged under 25. Again, this places huge pressure on families and individuals. The Deputy spoke about some positive things that might be coming down the track, for example, construction jobs. I do not take any pleasure in saying that one of the Government's failures is the fact that according to people in the construction industry, there are problems with the way some of the jobs proposed in the stimulus package are being put out to tender. Companies are coming in and underpricing jobs. The Government could look at that. Many of the bigger jobs in construction are being awarded to companies that are clearly not compliant and that hire subcontractors, many of whom are from outside the State and are undercutting legitimate companies that are trying to pay people's wages at the proper rate and work to union agreements. There is a difficulty there. Even the small stimulus package put forward by the Government is causing problems.

Drug dealing is increasing in towns and cities across Ireland. We have seen the Garda response and there have been huge successes in my constituency. However, drugs of all types are being sold openly only a couple of hundred yards away so that is a difficulty, a political failure and a failure on the part of the Department. During this Government's tenure, there has been a cut of almost 20% in drugs task force areas. At the same time, we are dealing with the growing availability of drugs. There is no funding for emerging needs or those communities that are at the coal face and trying to deal with the problem. This difficulty needs to be addressed but I do not think any other speaker has touched on that area. It is something that can and needs to be done.

There have been difficulties with the EU. One memorable stated commitment was to extend the scope of bank liability to include unsecured and unguaranteed senior bonds. The ECB has appeared to say "No" and that seems to be that. All the talk of game changers and new beginnings fell flat and the good old Irish taxpayer was left carrying the can and continuing to foot the bill. There was all sorts of backslapping at the weekend regarding Angela Merkel but there was no talk of her in respect of it. She was saying how successful we are but nobody is talking about the difficulty, pain and hardship that the policies she has pushed have caused people not only in Ireland, but across Europe.

The Government has also reneged on commitments to reform how the Oireachtas conducts EU business. I have just come from a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. It is the usual thing. There was talk of full scrutiny of EU draft proposals but this has not really happened. There was talk of systems being put in place to ensure Ministers did not bypass the Oireachtas and make decisions in Brussels on EU matters before those matters are subjected to scrutiny by the Oireachtas. Again, this has not really happened. Other countries are much more inclusive. For all the talk of Dáil reform, there have been no real examples. The scrutiny of EU affairs in Denmark involves the Government and the Opposition. There is dialogue there.

In respect of the review of the foreign aid budget, the Minister of State has stated that the Government will not reach the target. Again, there does not seem to be a plan regarding how we are going to do that. That is causing concern. Dóchas has rightly said that by abandoning this commitment, Ireland is not only endangering vital relief and development programmes, but it is also in danger of damaging the international goodwill it has built up through its aid programme. Again, there is much more to do here.

Promises were made regarding positioning Ireland and Shannon Airport in particular to become an international hub for storage and distribution of emergency humanitarian supplies. It was promised that the Government would enforce the prohibition on the use of Irish airspace, airports and related facilities that is not in line with the dictates of international law. This has not really happened. We are all aware that a woman is in jail in respect of what is happening at Shannon Airport, which is still being used for an illegal war in Iraq. Most fair-minded people would say that the Government has reneged on that commitment. If people say that this is not happening, there clearly needs to be an investigation into extraordinary rendition and human rights abuses in respect of Shannon Airport. There needs to be an independent investigation. We have no problem quoting human rights organisations like Amnesty International when they condemn breaches of human rights around the world so if they are claiming that this is happening in respect of Shannon Airport, why can we not use their claims as a means to an investigation? That would enhance our reputation and move us forward into a new era.

See this speech in context