Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá dhá nóiméad agam le cur in iúl nach bhfuil mé sásta mo thacaíocht a thabhairt don Rialtas. Níl sé sin bunaithe ar chúiseanna pearsanta. Tá a fhios agam go n-oibríonn an Rialtas agus gach Aire agus Teachta Dála go crua. Tá sé bunaithe ar na polasaithe a chuireann siad chun cinn. Is polasaithe iad atá ag cothú tuilleadh fadhbanna agus atá bunaithe ar pholasaithe nualiobrálachais.

I have 1 minute and 55 seconds to say I will not be supporting the Government in this motion of confidence. I have absolutely no confidence in this Government and I had none in the previous Government. This is not based on any personal reasons - I realise all Government Deputies work very hard - but on the policies the Government is pushing, which is one of neoliberalism that further intensifies the problems. The Government twists language and spins it to make nonsense of it. What is happening in terms of language is the greatest threat to democracy. I will not use my words on its housing policy. I refer to Simon’s latest snapshot study, Locked Out of the Market, which states there are no properties available in Galway city or county under HAP - not even with the new discretionary schemes that are coming in. We have no houses available whatsoever. We have now 10,325 people homeless. We are almost approaching the peak. Can one imagine a peak of 10,514 homeless in 2019? Yet, the Government is telling us its policies are working.

I live in a city where last week somebody was on a trolley for seven days before being given a room. That may happen and if I was part of the system, I would be apologising profusely and saying it was most unusual. Unfortunately, however, it is not unusual. I failed to understand the answer. The person who spent seven days on a trolley is almost blind and on a catheter. That case was in the city I come from and it is repeated in Limerick hospital and all of the other hospitals.

I am voting against the Government because I believe it is not for the common good. We need a fundamental change in policy demanded by Covid and climate change. We cannot persist with the way we are idealising the market. It is creating more and more problems.

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