Dáil debates

Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed)

 

3:30 pm

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Teachta Enda Kenny cannot be elected Taoiseach today; neither can Teachta Martin, Teachta Coppinger nor I. For that reason I did not allow my name to go forward. The other nominees should have done likewise.

There has been a host of worldwide events that will have an impact on our island, including the EU response to the refugee crisis, the impending Brexit referendum, the Panama papers revelations and US decisions in respect of tax inversion, and yet the Dáil is not dealing with them. We should also be discussing the issue of homelessness today. As the Ceann Comhairle knows, Sinn Féin has put forward a motion to appoint an Oireachtas committee, similar to the Dáil reform committee, to discuss this crisis as an urgent matter. We have been denied the right to move that motion and the Taoiseach, thus far, has declined my request to facilitate this necessary initiative. Ms Erica Fleming, a young homeless woman who has been living in emergency accommodation for nearly a year with her nine-year-old daughter, Emily, will give a briefing in committee room No. 4 today at 5 p.m. I encourage all Deputies, including acting Ministers, to attend and listen to her story. We should be dealing with this emergency, which sees 5,000 families made up of citizens like Erica and Emily without a home.

Today, there are 525 citizens languishing on hospital trolleys and we have heard disturbing reports of ambulances unable to place patients in hospital as they queue outside Sligo general hospital. Tomorrow it could be Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda or the accident and emergency departments in Cork, Galway or Beaumont. The worsening health crisis is a serious matter that must be addressed urgently but we have decided not to do that. These are the issues the Dáil could and should be dealing with instead of a vote that will decide nothing.

Let me be clear - Sinn Féin is opposed to Teachta Kenny or Teachta Martin leading a government.

However, it is also clear that they can do so because they have the numbers. There is a similarity in policy between them that should encourage them to do so. It is nonsense to suggest that Civil War politics is a barrier to these parties reaching any sort of agreement.

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