Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Let us roll out a public childcare system. People have spoken about learning from the Covid-19 crisis and not going back. I look at the programme for Government and there are some very good elements in it, including a commitment to ending direct provision. It would be nice to have a timescale attached to that.

There are nonetheless many internal contradictions in the programme. There is mention of a public health system but there is also a commitment to private medicine. There is mention of climate change but the document fails to acknowledge we will fail to meet our progressive targets; we will fail abysmally to meet them in 2020.

Deputy Eamon Ryan spoke about an ethical basis of doing business and I suggest the Government begins with a discussion on the ethics of where battery materials for electric vehicles come from. Where does cobalt come from? It would be a good start to an ethical discussion. Let us have a date for the publication of the policy being promised on the islands and the enactment of the legislation relating to the Irish language.

We cannot sort out the housing crisis without the commitment to public housing on public land. It is simply not possible. We must give a message to the market. If there is a serious interest in this, it must be done. Finally, bhí Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael ag siúl amach le chéile le fada. Faoi dheireadh tá deireadh leis an gcúirtéireacht agus atá an pósadh ann, tá siad pósta anois. The courtship is over and the parties are now married. It is an open question as to how the Green Party will fit into that marriage. I look forward to it and I will certainly be monitoring it very carefully.

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