Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are celebrating the events which took place on 14 December 100 years ago. Women were allowed to vote for the first time, which was a huge milestone. It was the year Countess Markievicz was elected but refused to take her seat at Westminster. She chose to wait as a revolutionary to be elected to the First Dáil. She was an inspirational character. Deputy Howlin referred to the foundation of the Labour Party in my town of Clonmel, which is true. It has been a generous and hard-working party representing ordinary people and it was a pity that some years ago it was prevented by violent protests from holding the celebration of its 100th anniversary in the town. There is no place for intimidation like that in a democracy. We must support all political parties in that regard. The same is true of the celebration today. The extension of democracy and our Constitution were wonderful things in terms of the freedom they brought about. We were enabled to become a sovereign people.

Now, however, we look at Brexit and the discussions in Europe. In a lot of ways, a heavy-handed Europe is the cause of a lot of what is behind Brexit. It has not allowed member states to self-determine and there has been too much overreach on its part. It is sad because, as sovereign countries, we should be allowed to make our own laws and regulations within justifiable reason. We see also the ongoing persecution of women and children in the Middle East but have no debate on it in this Parliament. We had one debate about four years ago when a number of Members were able to raise a Topical Issue thanks to the Ceann Comhairle. However, we turn a blind eye to it in general. Our neutrality is also being challenged on a daily basis.

Above all, I note that Fine Gael, supported at the time by the Labour Party, abandoned and destroyed local democracy. There has been too much centralisation of power, which is enormously regressive. The Labour Party has accepted that a mistake was made - I commend Deputy Howlin on that - and is trying to introduce Private Members' legislation to reverse the removal of accountability and democracy from local people. Too much centralisation is the reason we are failing to build the houses we need to look after our homeless. There is too much bureaucracy and centralisation. I salute the former members of local town councils and local authorities who provided voluntary service out of a sense of community to improve their local areas. It was not about money. We have too much of the heavy hand and too much denial of democracy to people. As we celebrate the 1918 general election 100 years on, we must take a look at ourselves and ask what is happening. There are 10,000 people on the streets, nearly 4,000 of whom are children. A half dozen successive housing Ministers have failed utterly to deal with that. Local authorities are not delivering either. When we had town councils, borough and district councils, such as the council in Clonmel, there were people on those who gave service and were there to help the people.

Like other Members, I refer to the banking collapse and the punitive behaviour of banks we bailed out. Permanent TSB is the most recent example as it sells off loans to vulture funds. A third force militia was operating in Roscommon last week, including, I am told, ex-UVF members from Northern Ireland. There is no place in our modern democracy for those people. We have An Garda Síochána, which we must support, and our Army if necessary. We do not need a third force acting at the behest of vulture funds and destroying people's lives. Those affected include sick and vulnerable people and families who have been split up. People have been forced into all kinds of situations by the greed of the bankers we bailed out. As we celebrate this 100th anniversary, we should not allow that to which I refer to go on under our noses. It is happening everywhere. Farmers are being evicted or threatened with eviction and ordinary householders are being evicted. We are trying to solve a housing crisis while turning a blind eye to the mayhem and treachery taking place in the use of a third force militia to evict people from houses and family farms. They are nothing short of thugs and they would have been dealt with a lot differently 100 years ago. They have no place in our modern democracy. We must stand up for our people and support them. Ní neart go cur le chéile. They are the people who have made the sacrifices to pay the taxes with which we are bailing out these so-called banks and this is the treatment they are receiving. The courts are not protecting them either while the situation with county sheriffs and their lucrative fees is a further sad indictment as we discuss this event 100 years later.

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