Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has brought an unbelievable story to this House. His narrative, essentially, is that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, contacted him to tell him that Katherine Zappone was looking for a UN gig and he then made contact with her. He says she did not lobby him or ask him for a job. Almost immediately afterwards, however, he had a conversation with his Secretary General in which he outlined his great new idea about a new UN envoy for something or other. The Minister then contacted Katherine Zappone and told her about his great new idea. He says he absolutely did not offer her the job he had just made up. Nevertheless, after not being offered that job, Ms Zappone texted him to thank him for the incredible opportunity. By the Minister's account, either he is a very bad communicator or Katherine Zappone is a dope. Not only did she misunderstand him regarding the job offer, she even thought she had a start date. When the Minister was not replying to her, she went as far as to contact everybody she could get a hold of to put the skids on it, including the Irish ambassador to the UN and even the Tánaiste.

What did the Minister do about this person who could not understand a simple conversation and who repeatedly went over his head to pressure him? He offered her that job he says he had not offered her previously. Anyone who expects the people to swallow that story is either a dope or thinks the rest of us are, because the truth is much more obvious. A former Minister wanted a job that would get her access within the UN and her Fine Gael friends bent over backwards to make it happen. The Minister made up a job that was not necessary and he expected Irish taxpayers to pay for it. He allowed Katherine Zappone to draft her own job description, deleted information he was legally obliged to protect and wasted his Department's resources and staff time to justify all those actions retrospectively. He brought the appointment to Cabinet without first informing his coalition partners, but they signed off, probably in the knowledge that at some point in the future they would want to do a favour for one of their friends because that is how Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil do business. In fact, for hours, days and even weeks in some cases, out-of-touch Ministers could not understand what all the fuss was about, and it appears some Ministers still have that affliction. The Taoiseach will recall that on day one, he told us to move on. The Minister himself went on radio and arrogantly told the media not to create new stories. Rather than deal with the debacle, Fine Gael ran a sting operation to expose that the Minister, Deputy Harris, had leaked the appointment from the Cabinet meeting because that is how business is done.

Appointments to public bodies, right up to the Supreme Court, are decided not by what you know but who you know. Public finances are spent and policy decisions are made on the basis not of what is in the best interests of workers and families but of who has access and who is on the inside track. That is why we have a housing crisis. It is why Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael always deliver for developers, speculators and vulture funds rather than those who need homes. It is why we continue to have a two-tier health service where personal wealth rather than healthcare needs can determine whether a person has access to the treatment he or she requires. It is why Irish families and workers are fleeced with the highest mortgage rates in the eurozone and among the highest rents, insurance, childcare and utility costs in the world. It is why we need change. It is why we need to bring an end to cronyism, back room deals and insider politics. It is why this House should vote no confidence in the Minister, Deputy Coveney. It should also vote no confidence in the Government and in the old-style, failed, corrupt politics that have been the hallmark of this State for too long. The people deserve better.

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