Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Members of the Technical Group are seriously disadvantaged, but other Members of the Dáil in general are also disadvantaged. All Members of the Dáil, Government and Opposition, should have the opportunity, four and a half years into the Government's term, to give their verdict, on reflection, in relation to the critical issues facing us. Therefore, I propose that the debate continue into tomorrow. It should be extended by at least another three hours, and preferably more than that.

We have a Government that is presiding over the worst homelessness crisis in the history of this State. There are more than a thousand children in hotels, hostels and utterly inappropriate accommodation, now exhibiting all kinds of psychological and emotional ill-effects. There are 130,000 families nationally on the local authority waiting list. Even in the dismal 1970s, right-wing Governments built up to 8,500 local authority houses per year to meet a crisis, as compared with a few hundred per year at present. We have a Government that seems totally oblivious to this. We have a mass revolt of our people against the latest infliction of austerity in the form of water charges, with a huge majority saying clearly to the Government that they will not pay and that they want that charge abolished, but the Government will not listen. These are only some of the issues that Members of this Dáil need time to reflect on. There are other serious issues, as well as the economic diagnosis. I have made a serious diagnosis: I believe the Labour Party is suffering from an acute case of mass delusional psychosis in a political sense.

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