Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is an utter failure to recognise the sources of poverty. I am reading aghast, and I hope I am incorrect, that we are looking at the role of the Defence Forces in providing skills to help people out of poverty. There is an utter failure to look at any of the reports produced by Government and non-government bodies about the sources of poverty, including lack of income and lack of access to housing and public health services. Surely if we have learned anything, it is that there are solutions. I am sick and tired of being told by my colleagues here to my left that we Independents have done nothing. We have come in every day to this Dáil. We have researched, spoken and suggested solutions. If we had the votes, we would happily take power. In the meantime, we will use our voices to point out that there are solutions that they are not taking and that the solutions they are adopting will cost us money in the long run and will not lead to an equal society which, in the long term, would be a much better economy.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht d'fhoidhnid. Tá súil agam, as seo amach, go mbeidh i bhfad níos mó Gaeilge á úsáid sa Seomra agus go mbeidh toghchán againn uair éigin nuair a thagann na fir ar ais.

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