Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

-----and walked away telling us there would be a game changer in dealing with the debt issue. We are still waiting for the game changer. The Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, might talk about the price her colleagues are paying, but, my goodness, society is still carrying that debt, about which it thought something would be done. There was a big promise made in that regard.

The Social Democrats want to act constructively in this Dáil. About three weeks ago we said the inevitable was being postponed, that one needed to have Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael talking to each other because they comprised the two large blocks. That has to happen, but at the same time there is a constructive role for the Dáil to play. I am encouraged by the engagement taking place at the Dáil reform committee and the changes that might allow a more equal mandate in the engagement we will see in this Dáil if it carries through into the decisions made. No doubt there are differences between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, but what is not different is the ideology that has underpinned the policy decisions that have led to the health service, housing system and corporate governance arrangements we have in place.

I will make one final point. I have said repeatedly in the past few years that Irish Water is about much more. It is shorthand for a lot of other issues. There was hardly a doorstep in my constituency on which it was not mentioned. Pensioners told me about how they had been pauperised by various charges. People did not like the idea that others were gaining at their expense. They could name persons who they believed were gaining at their expense through the contracts that had been awarded. It is important, therefore, that we understand that it is about a lot more than Irish Water. As somebody pointed out, a majority of Members in this Dáil take a different view from that of Fine Gael takes on this issue.

See this speech in context