Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I also want to condemn the petty, point-scoring approach of the Government and Fianna Fáil in dealing with this serious matter. This is not about political point-scoring. Rather, it is a serious assessment of whether the Stormont House Agreement offers a way forward and a better, more prosperous and sustainable future for the North. That being said, however, let us consider the agreement. Despite the fact that I do not like the petty politicking of the Government in attacking Sinn Féin, as Deputy Adams says, there has to be robust argument on this issue. I do not accept that this is the best we can get. Twenty thousand job losses in the public sector is a disaster. Proportionately, it is more than were cut from the public service here in terms of the population. We saw the disastrous effects that had on health, housing and education. I do not believe anybody who is opposed to austerity should stand over it. I do not accept the review of state assets involved, which is code for moving towards their privatisation.

I accept that there are some concessions in the agreement, but many of the social welfare cuts will still go through. We have to fight them root and branch. We should not sign up to an agreement that involves any attacks on the vulnerable or the privatisation of or cuts to public services. We need to resist such things, but we cannot resist them if we are managing, signing up to and implementing them.

James Connolly once described Parliament as a dung heap, and said that one can stand on top of it to shout louder, but whatever one does one should not fall into it. The problem is that sometimes political institutions become that dung heap. They become a trap that people can become caught in and gag on from fighting over the issues that matter. I am afraid that is what is happening with this agreement, which is not a fresh start; rather, it is a fresh austerity offensive.

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