Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is now two weeks until Christmas. While some people are wondering how they managed to survive the year of Covid-19, others are wondering how they survive every year within the confines of this Bill. I am anxious that the lending capacity of our credit unions be extended in our communities. They are bedrocks of opportunity and protection. I am equally anxious about the effective politicisation of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council.

I am not referring to its fine members but to the Minister's attempt to legislate for a third consecutive term for one of them. Term limits are a key aspect of good governance. I disapprove of what is happening.

The reduction of the council to a fig leaf for the Minister's embarrassment is indicative of the Government's attitude to the public overall. This week, more-than-well-paid judges are getting an increase on the grounds that they are entitled to it, yet the Government is demanding that student nurses put their lives on the line for €50 because, in its opinion, that is all they are entitled to. The Government forgets that almost everything in people's lives is predicated on what we do in here. Where they live, how long they live, their healthcare, whether they can keep a roof over their heads, whether they can keep their sight, whether their children can go to college, and life and death are all decided within the confines of this House at the pressing of a button – Níl or Tá.

Homelessness is rising. Outside this House, too many people are looking to the Muslim Sisters of Eire and other soup kitchens to be fed. The term "soup kitchen" cuts deep for us in Ireland. The soup kitchens, rack rents, evictions and bailiffs of a former generation feature again in this one. This time, the tent cities in Cork and Dublin do not arise via Trevelyan or Peel but via Bilderberg and Davos. Privilege meets power. Under the Government, privilege is power. It is also a question of access and influence - a text, a nod, a wink, conversations with friends, a confidential State document reordered and leaked, sneak peaks and Supreme Court seats. Why? It is because those concerned are entitled. It is time to do better and to do things differently.

Hundreds of thousands voted for Sinn Féin precisely to do things better and differently. For their vote as democrats, some have treated them as lessers, lowers, political lepers, social pariahs, and literal and political illiterates, even while news was breaking of the leaking of documents by the former Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar. All the Fianna Fáil Members were queueing up here to declare confidence in him although most of them had none. This morning, theIrish Examiner had another report on the Tánaiste leaking information, this time in regard to protected disclosures. We are aware that Fianna Fáil does not have confidence in the Tánaiste, because no confidence was deserved. To keep change out, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael buried the hatchet. They buried it deep into those they believe to be unentitled, but change is coming. Those same people will vote time and again until they see themselves and their interests represented in government and in finance Bills, as they should be. That is their right and entitlement in a republic.

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