Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Ba mhaith liom gach rath a ghuí ort i do ról nua. Tá a fhios agam go mbeidh stádas iontach ag an nGaeilge faoi do chúram. Most people watching at home would be struck by the deep disconnect between the rhetoric of this Chamber and their own lives. The speakers from the former Government parties have spoken left and right. Between unemployment, activation schemes and emigration, there are 500,000 people who are the collateral damage of this last Government's economic policies. I met an elderly woman in Meath recently who had to battle her way through the health service in this country. She felt the health service had been deeply vandalised by the last Government. She was experiencing delayed diagnosis and treatment and hundreds of thousands of people are like her. The answer of the previous Government is to delay the proper functioning of the Dáil, so her issues will not be dealt with.

For the past four years we have had an immediate housing crisis, but that term is an oxymoron. Homeless people can see closed housing estates across the State. Today, they will see the two largest parties talking about closing this House down for another month before those issues can be dealt with.

We cannot divorce the realities and immediacy of the crisis facing people outside this Chamber. The Irish people are tolerant but that tolerance is a limited resource and will soon be spent.

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