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

As has already been stated, Sinn Féin will support this motion. As Deputies will know, we rejected the Act after our proposals on housing, for example, were rejected and it was decided the capital injection could be used for banking, the most over-injected, overindulged, perennially pampered sector in the State and one that still pays no tax. Given that we are dealing with a full-blown and unprecedented public health emergency, we need to ensure our hospitals and other public services are as well funded as possible.

We can all see the crisis in our hospitals. At Naas General Hospital, healthcare workers are out on their feet but they keep going. The HSE, in a reply to a parliamentary question, indicated there are over 100 vacancies at Naas General Hospital. From speaking to nurses, it seems the only thing keeping doctors, nurses and healthcare workers going at the moment is the solidarity they show each other. When it comes to the rainy day fund we absolutely agree it is already bucketing down but when it comes to housing, childcare, carers, ventilating schools, supporting people through a just transition and the climate crisis, the monsoon arrived a long time ago. There is a huge amount of work to be done so that we do not create a divide between the climate haves and have-nots. The Minister for Finance took umbrage at the mention of words "undermining democracy" but I can tell the Government that if it allows inequality to take hold, it will present a real danger to social cohesion. People cannot be excluded from transitioning well and comfortably simply due to money.

To return to the issue of housing, instead of looking after the vulture funds and planning punitive roadshows to entice more of them to come here, we should be looking after their prey, the workers in this State who are despairing of ever being able to either rent or buy an affordable home. With all the talk of biodiversity, the vulture is in no fear of extinction in this country. While the vulture funds are allowed a clean sweep, the biodiversity of ordinary people trying to buy houses has collapsed. This biodiversity and habitats disaster is unlikely to be addressed by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, at COP26 but it is true all the same.

I am equally concerned about our carers, who have suffered hugely throughout the pandemic. Sinn Féin has set a clear path for recognising and assist them. I am all for pupils, teachers and the wider school staff. The State has signed up to the EU buildings directive which would vastly improve ventilation in our schools for health and safety reasons. It is beyond me that this fund is not being used to fast-track funding for investment in design, which is desperately needed. Covid might not be a problem for a rainy day but a rainy season. As a result of diversion, funds are not available for what is essential for the people as opposed to essential for the Government and its preferred projects and sectors. The issue with the rainy day fund is not just money but the priorities for spending that money. That is the difference between the Government and the Opposition. It is about priorities and choices and I hope the Government will make some of the right choices.

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