Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is a 15-minute slot. Sinn Féin tabled its motion of no confidence in the Government opposite because we believe that change is needed now more than ever. The Government in those benches is out of touch, clearly out of ideas and now out of time - a Government that is unravelling before our very eyes, which has lost the support of the people, if indeed it ever had it. Last week it lost its Dáil majority. Now the Taoiseach scrambles to get the votes to win a confidence motion. The writing is on the wall for him. This failed Government should go, it should go now and make way for a Government that will finally put workers and families first. Tá an Rialtas ag titim as a chéile díreach os ár gcomhair. Theip air tabhairt faoi na rudaí atá fíorthábhachtach do dhaoine. Tá tacaíocht na ndaoine caillte agus tá tromlach na Dála caillte. Tá sé in am ag an Rialtas neamhchúiseach seo an bealach a fhágáil. It is not hard to see why this coalition is coming apart at the seams. It is a Government that has presided over two years of utter and abject failure. Not only has the Government failed to make improvements in the areas that really matter to people, but it has, in fact, managed to make a bad situation so much worse. This is especially true in housing, in healthcare and in dealing with the cost-of-living crisis that has literally pushed households to the brink. The Government has no urgency, no vision and no capacity to grasp the severity of these problems in the lives of ordinary people. By any fair judgment, the Taoiseach is failing.

Far too often the message from Government to the people looking to it for solutions has been, "Suck it up, get on with it, shop around, you are on your own". Well, that is just not good enough. People expect so much more from those they elect and those who they pay very handsomely to get the job done. Strike one against this failed Government is without question housing. Let us not forget the coalition came to office declaring that it would fix housing. This was a very bold statement that has not aged well. On its watch, the housing crisis has escalated to a housing disaster. So many of our people now struggle to put and keep a secure roof over their heads.

House prices continue to soar beyond the reach of ordinary workers and families. The dream of owning a home has become an impossibility for an entire generation. Rents keep going up and up. Renters are being ripped off every month, robbed of their money but also robbed of their futures. Young people, in particular, watch on as international funds build fancy apartment blocks in their neighbourhoods and they get to look at them because they never will be able to afford to live in them. Generation Rent is exploited in the here and now and they face a difficult and uncertain future. A new Government on the side of renters would take action now to cut rents through a tax credit and legislate to ban rent increases for three years but the Taoiseach's do-nothing Government sits on its hands and turns a blind eye; worse than that, and he is at it again this afternoon, the Taoiseach bragged about the Government's new shared equity scheme. It is a vintage Fianna Fáil move if ever there was one.

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