Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As we gather here in our national Parliament today, we have war in Europe, resulting in the largest forced-displacement of people since the Second World War, levels of inflation not seen in four decades and concerns that Europe could be facing an energy crisis. The outlook for the global economy is being downgraded, we have no government in Northern Ireland and we have witnessed political turmoil in London. The full impact of Brexit on our island remains unresolved and Covid-19 is on the rise again.

Sinn Féin's answer is to call for a general election. Sinn Féin's approach to opposition is very simple: promise everything to everyone, say whatever has to be said to get into government and worry about the consequences afterwards. Delivering the promises being made by Sinn Féin would amount to billions and billions of euro. Sinn Féin is building a level of expectation of what it can deliver in government that is utterly unrealistic and unrealisable. In its heart of hearts it must know this and it is a deeply cynical approach to politics. Some of those who will support Sinn Féin today have had not one, but two, opportunities to enter government in recent years but chose the safe and comfortable Opposition benches where it is easy to have all the answers and none of the responsibility. No one on this side of the House has denied that our country faces many challenges, not least the imperative to build more homes quickly, to reform our health service and to address the cost-of-living pressures that many face. The Government has managed our economy and our public finances well. Our economy is now close to full employment. At times the House and certainly the Opposition seem to take those fundamental achievements for granted but it is a successful economy with well-managed public finances that give us the resources to intervene and support people who are genuinely under pressure from the rising cost of living. Our focus now is on the budget. It will be a cost-of-living budget with €6.7 billion and a separate package of one-off measures to help people who face real challenges.

We have a strong and stable Government that does not claim to get everything right. It is a Government of three parties that accepted the responsibility of office-----

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