Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Now more than ever and for everyone's sake we need an effective Government capable of tackling the big issues facing this country and correcting the mistakes of the past. Good government should be about creating the kind of country that ensures everyone can live life with dignity and opportunity. One cannot help thinking, on reading the new programme of partnership Government, that while well-meaning in parts, it is very long on aspiration and very short on specifics. We have seen many documents in the past which have promised much but delivered very little. Whatever about those Independents who will or will not take part in this Government, in the case of this Taoiseach and the Fine Gael Party we have no option but to judge them not on their promises for the future but on their actions of the past five years. These actions have seen huge divisions and deep social problems open up in Irish society.

We recognise that the economy is in recovery but this has been achieved at enormous cost to a great many people and has created a very divided country and a deeply fractured body politic. The Taoiseach's Government had choices about how that economic recovery would be achieved and he chose to ensure the burden of austerity would be imposed disproportionately on those who are least able to carry it. His budgets were regressive and each of them widened the gap between rich and poor. That is what he chose. Those choices have resulted in, for example, the rate of child poverty increasing to the point where one in nine children now lives in consistent poverty without adequate food, clothing or heat. His policies mean that 1,800 children are now growing up in hotel bedrooms and other emergency accommodation with more than 100,000 people on housing waiting lists and tens of thousands of other families in mortgage distress facing the loss of their homes.

Fine Gael's legacy sees half a million people on waiting lists for hospital services and many thousands more waiting for primary care services. Most concerning of all is the staggeringly high rate of mental health problems, substance misuse and suicide throughout this country. The budget choices of the last Government resulted in the burden of taxation being shifted downwards onto those who could least afford to pay and resulted in us now having the third highest cost of living in the EU along with some of the poorest public services. That in turns has greatly reduced purchasing power and has had very negative impacts on small businesses. These are all the appalling consequences of political decisions taken by the last Government. Was it any wonder the public was so incensed when Fine Gael came out with the slogan, "Keep the recovery going" and Deputy Michael Noonan tried to buy people's votes by promising a €4 billion tax giveaway? Nothing displayed more how out of touch Fine Gael was with the reality of people's lives and the condition of this country than that disgraceful election promise.

The people gave their verdict and punished Fine Gael. It is indeed a bitter irony that it may well be that same party that will lead the new Government. The arithmetic of the election result meant that the only majority Government possible was one of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. That would have been a logical development in Irish politics. For its own reasons Fianna Fáil has eschewed that option.

So it seems we are now entering uncharted waters in which the Dáil majority may actually exist on this side of the House if this arrangement goes ahead. While that creates a huge amount of uncertainty for the future - and it is clearly by no means certain to happen today - it also opens up an opportunity for us to practise politics in a very different manner. It may now be possible to ensure that the Executive is actually answerable to Parliament, which is, of course, how it should be. Ministers may have to convince the Dáil that policies or legislation are actually worthy of support. For a change, Government will have to consider and frequently accept amendments from the Opposition. Indeed, if we are not to have gridlock, the decision-making process for Cabinet and the support structure surrounding it will need to change radically to accommodate this. I sincerely hope that work is already under way to underpin this.

The new configuration, along with the welcome proposals on Dáil reform, will challenge all of us - both Government and Opposition - to rethink how we practise politics. Hopefully, there will be greater potential for us to take a more problem-solving approach to some of the big issues facing the country, to ensure there is evidence-based decision making, to have open and objective resource allocation, and to ensure all budgetary decisions are equality- and poverty-proofed. Approached in the right spirit, the new configuration can enable each Member of the House to play a full and effective role on behalf of the people who elected us.

We must now, at last, get serious about political reform - not just Dáil reform, but political reform. That means ensuring that openness and accountability become the hallmark of how public life operates. It means, for example, full and honest answers to parliamentary questions. It means ending cronyism. It means sidelining vested interests, reforming the Civil Service and reforming the relationship between senior civil servants and Ministers. Most of all, it means having an effective way of dealing with wrongdoing, white-collar crime and corruption, whether that is in politics, public life or business. We cannot have accountability unless there are consequences for those involved in wrongdoing, and too often there have been no consequences for such people. Tribunals have clearly failed. Commissions of inquiry are highly unsatisfactory. A Dáil investigation committee will not have sufficient powers. That is why the Social Democrats propose an independent anti-corruption agency with powers to investigate and, critically, to prosecute. We hope the Dáil will give positive consideration to this proposal.

There has been precious little evidence of new politics in recent years. Too often, information has to be dragged out of Ministers, senior figures refuse to take responsibility for mistakes, and reports are kept under wraps. This must change. For our part, the Social Democrats will play an active and constructive role in the new Dáil. We will support the Government when we believe it is acting in the public interest and oppose it when it is not. It is our intention to work collaboratively with any party or any Independents in the furtherance of progressive politics. There is an onus on all of us to co-operate in working to achieve greater prosperity, opportunity, equality and accountability in Irish society. Irrespective of the Government that emerges or does not emerge today, we must all rise to that challenge.

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