Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an gcinneadh atá déanta eascaire a chur amach chun na folúntais i mBaile Átha Cliath Thiar Theas agus i Ros Comáin-Liatroim Theas a líonadh.

It is also important to note that it is thank to the court case taken by Deputy Doherty that Governments can no longer drag out or delay indefinitely the holding of by-elections. When he took the case, the Fianna Fáil-led Government had dragged its feet for 18 months and denied the people of Donegal South-West their opportunity to be fully represented. That can no longer happen. Go raibh míle maith don Teachta.

We welcome the opportunity to meet people during the forthcoming by-election campaigns but we meet them all the time and not just during campaigns. Voters in Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim will face an important choice between the failed policies and politics of austerity of the past implemented by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party and their cosy consensus for cuts and the alternative offered by Sinn Féin, the only all-Ireland party with core republican values in these by-elections. It is a choice between the politics of those who see ordinary working people as an easy target and a party that stands with citizens dependent on public services who are trying to improve their standard of living. It is also a choice between those who will stand for peace in Ireland and globally and the shameful stance of the Government in its refusal to support peace in the Middle East and to stand with the people of Gaza over the summer when they came under a huge onslaught by the Israeli Defence Forces. Tá rogha ann sna fothoghcháin seo idir chothrom na Féinne agus an éagóir. Voters in Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim have been let down by the Government and most see little or no sign of the recovery that Fine Gael and the Labour Party have been boasting about. They are trying to cope with crumbling health services. The issue of Roscommon Hospital is one that people there rightly feel strongly about.

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