Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Paul Murphy for that forensic scrutiny of the report. There was news this morning that no sanctions were being imposed. There is a public perception that there is no come-back for any of the wrongdoing in this House. That is not the fault of the Ceann Comhairle, but he needs to make sure the record is clear that he does not have it within his power to impose sanctions and that it has moved to another level because people I have met and who have phoned me are shocked that there will be no sanctions. They are shocked that Deputies would vote for others not present in the Chamber and by the statements we have received so far from the Deputies involved, which stretch credulity. One of the reasons people are shocked by the lack of sanctions is ordinary people are constantly sanctioned for what is perceived or declared to be wrongdoing. Yesterday, during questions to the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, we found out that over 50,000 jobseekers had been sanctioned financially under the JobPath programme. Under the Electoral Acts, somebody who breaches the law in misusing his or her vote can receive a fine of up to €2,500 and/or a term of imprisonment for two years. Therefore, people are shocked when they wake up to find that there will be no sanctions for this behaviour. We need accountability and sanctions for those Deputies who voted for others who were not in the Chamber. Otherwise we are holding this democracy in contempt and feeding the cynicism of so many about our democracy and what happens in this House.

I want to dwell for a few minutes on other aspects of what happens in this House that bring us into disrepute. The airwaves have been consumed by Votegate in a week when we have learned that the State's chief procurement officer has resigned from the development board of the national children's hospital, the overspend on which is about to escalate; the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to importing fracked gas against the stated wishes of the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action; 10,000 people are homeless and that 100,000 people are in need of housing, many of whom are living in fear of eviction. Citizens are dying on the streets because of the housing crisis, while over 50 progressive Bills are being held up because of the lack of a money message. I draw attention to this because it concerns two parts of democracy. They concern how we use our vote and when we use it. We are blocked by the Government in progressing legislation that might address all of the disparate elements of our society. Some of the Bills are vitally important. One is the Green Party's Waste Reduction Bill. There is our own Bill to keep fossil fuels in the ground, the Solidarity-People Before Profit anti-eviction Bill, the Sinn Féin Bill dealing with micro-generation and the Social Democrats' Bill dealing with the prohibition of micro-plastics.

I could go on and on. More than 50 progressive Bills are being held captive by the Government because of spurious money messages. On 6 November, we will be putting a motion before this House to change Standing Orders to allow those Bills to progress. I hope all Members will do the democratic thing and support the motion.

If we really want to instill confidence in this process and if we really want to win back the support of the people, we need to state that there has to be transparency in this Chamber. We have to learn lessons and be open. We also have to learn that it is one Deputy, one vote, and nothing else. There was a time in Northern Ireland when there was a demand for one man, one vote. That was fiercely resisted by the British Government. We got past that period and we now need to show that we care about democracy. Many countries around the world are on fire because of the lack of democracy, including Hong Kong, Lebanon, Chile, Peru and Catalonia, to mention just a few. It is at our peril that we do not adhere to the democratic principles fought for so hard by previous generations. We need to learn lessons from this, move on and be utterly and totally transparent to the people.

See this speech in context