Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government simply refuses to listen. Suggestions that it knows will make a difference in the daily lives of so many people are slapped down. The Government knows but does not care. That is poor leadership, bad government and a very short-sighted perspective. It is clear that housing, health and income insecurity are now the main results of this Government's policies. It is also now abundantly clear that the Taoiseach is comfortable with that reality.

The Government needs better objectives, priorities and solutions. It needs the political will to deliver serious achievements that will have real meaning in the lives of workers and families. Let me make a few suggestions. How about a truly free education system from the first day of baby infants to the final day of college? How about a national health service where medical treatment is free at the point of delivery? How about a housing system that places affordability and accessibility at its core? I refuse to accept that these things cannot be done in the Ireland of 2019. After all, we are not asking the Taoiseach to land on the moon. We are not asking him to contend with the great mysteries of the universe. Even in the context of Brexit, an ambitious social agenda is possible. In fact, Brexit makes an ambitious social agenda absolutely essential.

This is well within the gift of politicians who want to create a better society. It is, however, dismissed by those who do not. Making sure everybody has a home, can see a doctor when they are sick and have a decent education is the responsibility of the Government. It the responsibility of the Taoiseach. How dare anybody try to present these goals as the aspirations of hypocrites, cynics, wolves or ostriches. These are the goals of decency, fairness and common sense. These goals should be the basis of any worthwhile political agenda. They should be the priorities of any respectable State and any self-respecting Government.

I am proud to hold such principles. I make no apology for coming into this Chamber to say to the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, that I am a believer. I believe in the politics of equality and social justice. I believe in representing and standing up for ordinary people. That is what I do. That is what Deputy Pearse Doherty did yesterday in his response to this budget. That is what all the Sinn Féin Teachtaí Dála on these benches do every single day. We do this because we sincerely believe that every child should be supported in going as far as possible in life, that every worker should have decent wages and conditions and that every family should have the right to a happy life.

The only way to ensure these things is to deliver economic justice and that is what annual budgets should do. Budgets should be stepping stones in delivering a just society and a fair Ireland. Unfortunately, this Government's budgets do the opposite. They hold back families, workers and communities. It takes a village to raise a child. Families and communities are that village. I know of a woman who sums up the responsibility of government succinctly. She states:"All children need and deserve three things - a good home, a good doctor and a good school." For that simple, yet profound, vision to be realised, work must pay. We must, therefore, raise incomes. People at work ask themselves what has happened to the principle of a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. Even full-time employment cannot guarantee families a life free of poverty. Successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Governments must bear responsibility for this. Those parties have followed a political agenda sustained by attacks on workers' pay and conditions. This has resulted in a frightening growth in precarious work and poverty wages. It is not radical for us to demand that jobs be high in quality, sustainable and carry wages that deliver a living.

The Taoiseach pours scorn on the idea of economic justice and progressive taxation. He does not do that because he thinks these ideas will not work. He pours that scorn on these ideas because he sees equality as a threat to his power and as a threat to privilege. He states it is impossible for the Government to deliver world-class public services and raise incomes at the same time. He is wrong because he is wedded to a way of thinking that delivers only for those who are already making it in life. He can see no other way forward but the discredited idea of trickle-down economics. If ever there was a form of fantasy economics, surely it is that myth. Let us look at what policies shaped by trickle-down economics have delivered in this State. An entire generation of young people are worse off than their parents. In times gone by, couples would make sacrifices to save for a mortgage. Today, the same sacrifices are made to pay extortionate rent for substandard accommodation. The cost of utility bills and insurance goes up and up and the cost of making ends meet has become unbearable for many. Our citizens are being ripped off left, right and centre. Saving for the future has been made impossible for many families. Relationships are breaking down under the resultant strain. The mental health of workers and families suffers because of stress, anxiety, depression and a paralysing uncertainty about the future.

While I am on this issue, how is that this Government still cannot recognise that we have a mental health crisis?

See this speech in context