Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the gusto with which the Government attacked core rates of social protection payments for vulnerable people. I look across the Chamber at the party that claims as its core principle the issue of equality. What chance does an 18 or 19 year old have to run for the Presidency of the country if they receive €100 per week, having had social protection payments pulled off them by the Tánaiste, Deputy Burton? If this is the summit of the ambition of the Government for political and constitutional reform, the public is gunning for the Government parties. We have a job of work to do on this side of the House because I want to see this referendum passed. The public has no idea what is going on and I doubt many of the backbenchers in government know about it because we can see that from their participation in the debate.

On the Constitutional Convention, some of the recommendations that should have happened involved social issues. The marriage referendum was born of the Constitutional Convention but we did not see any progress on blasphemy. Despite the fact that Fine Gael and Labour stood before the people in 2011 and said they would tackle this wholeheartedly, there is no political reform. It is hard to know who is frightened on the issue of tackling blasphemy. It is appalling. I refer to the Constitutional Convention and the subject matter of political reform. If this is the extent of the ambition of the Government, the public sees through it.

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