Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----and the nine Independents are just the extras in the movie, the fall guys who deserve what is going to come to them, because it will come to them.

The talk of new politics from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is laughable. There is nothing new here. This is a continuation of rule by two parties who have ruled on behalf of the elite since the foundation of this State. They have usurped the will of the people in the general election on 26 February. They have usurped that will. Usurp means to do so without authority or right of the people. I am reminded of the novel, The Leopard, by the Italian writer Lampedusa, in which the landed gentry of Sicily are discussing whether or not to support Garibaldi. One of the characters utters the famous words, "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change". This is exactly what we are hearing in this Dáil, that we have to change so things will stay the same.

I wish to comment briefly on the amazing statement by the Labour Party leader, Deputy Joan Burton, that the Labour Party is proud of its role in the previous Government.

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