Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of People Before Profit, I wish to say that we will support Deputy McDonald's nomination for Taoiseach. During the campaign, People Before Profit had stamped on every one of our leaflets and posters the slogan "Break the cycle of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael" and 100 years of two-party rule. In record numbers, voters responded to and echoed that call. We have an historic shift in Irish politics where, for the first time, the two major parties have considerably less than 50% support. It was clear on the doorsteps that that was because of the anger people felt at the failure of those parties to deliver the affordable housing that people needed, a healthcare system that worked for all regardless of the size of someone's wallet, affordable childcare, something at the end of the month after someone had paid the bills, and the sort of radical climate action that the young people who came out onto the streets during the climate strikes were demanding.

It seems to me that the only way we can give effect to that unmistakable demand for change and the demand to break the cycle of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is to establish a left minority Government. I wish it was a left majority Government, but we in People Before Profit have said from the beginning that we believe a left Government is now possible. The only way that can happen is with Deputy McDonald as Taoiseach, given that Sinn Féin is the largest component of the vote for change that expressed itself in support for a number of left-wing and left-leaning parties. We appeal to all those parties on the left that benefited from the vote for change to come together and form a left alternative Government, albeit a minority one. To those who say it is not practical, I say this: such a Government, even in its first 100 days, could restore the pension age to 65 years; stop the scandalous sale of public land and instead use it for public and affordable housing; introduce rent controls; stop evictions; tax the corporate polluters instead of ordinary people to fund radical climate measures such as free and frequent public transport, a major national retrofit programme and an afforestation programme; bring the minimum wage up to a living wage; and introduce pay equality for health workers so that we could recruit and retain nurses to resolve the crisis in our health service. We urge the parties of the left to create such a left minority Government.

We do not support Deputy McDonald with a blank cheque. We hope she will take that support-----

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