Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is not an abstract price that will be paid. Homes and businesses will pay the price in the coming years. Will today's coalition of convenience give an assurance to the law-abiding, honest citizens who have paid their water charges that they will be fully refunded and, if so, when? That is the least law-abiding people deserve, that their abiding by the laws of the State is respected by the Government and the governing arrangements of the State.

At its very first test on a very difficult issue, the coalition has failed, but we will wait and see. How can we possibly expect this Government to deliver on future challenges? I notice, for example, that the patched-up programme for Government singularly fails to commit to delivering a living wage for workers, but a recovering economy needs to improve wages and to invest in upskilling workers to ensure people can both get jobs and maintain and retain jobs.

Is it any surprise when two conservative parties come together to form a coalition where business interests will take precedence over workers’ interests? I notice, too, that the commitment to free GP care for all has been dropped or disappeared simply because it will be difficult to achieve. How will universal health care ever be delivered if this critical plank in the system is now abandoned? Does anybody now doubt that free GP care for young children and older people over 70 would have been delivered without the Labour Party in government?

There is token reference in the document to the challenge of future pension provision for older people. As Minister for Social Protection, I worked hard with many people both inside the House and outside it, and in government, to put in place the roadmap-----

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