Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have a major crisis in providing buses to get our students to school. I have come into the House today because a view is being expressed outside this Chamber that needs to be said publicly. The public sees the Government running at less than 50%. At the start of this pandemic, I praised the Tánaiste and the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, for all the work they were doing. I will compliment anyone who works hard for this country and I praised the Tánaiste and the Minister for that.

After the election, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party came together to lead this country, at a time when Sinn Féin ran for the hills. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald was sick with Covid-19 but the rest of the party disappeared and there were rewards out for them.

All we are seeing on television at the moment is negativity. Fine Gael went into government with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to lead this country. That Government got the bus just off the top of the hill and stopped it on an incline. The Government formed and went to the top of the hill but it is now going down that hill at 100 mph and is coming to a 90-degree bend. The job of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party is to talk with one voice and not to take the Government apart by having potshots at each other on the television to be popular.

The Rural Independent Group canvassed for the rural pubs to open because they are the only places in which people can meet and connect. The Tánaiste's party did not even know when he said that he thought that the pubs should open, and that was tweeted. The Tánaiste should stop being populist and do the job that he signed up to do. Fine Gael must work with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to lead this country. Sinn Féin will highlight all the negative things because that is what it does. Sinn Féin is not the only party in opposition.

The Rural Independent Group sought to form a government with Fine Gael. Fine Gael did not want that and I respect that. I respect Fine Gael when it does good. This country needs leadership. It does not need populism or a Government whose members take each other apart on television. We need the Government to lead and give people hope that we can straighten things out.

What we hear from Sinn Féin is only spin. We know that. I am from an Opposition party and I am saying it myself. It is spin. Sinn Féin has the money to do it. It is destroying the name of Ireland with all the spin it is coming up with. I am asking Fine Gael and the other Government parties to come together and lead this country with one voice.

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