Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

When Deputy Leo Varadkar was being proposed for Taoiseach earlier, Deputy Higgins compared him to Santa Claus. Dr. Maitiú Ó Tuathail, for one, agreed; he texted "Leo always delivers". However, the truth is the Christmas figure that Varadkar most resembles is not Santa, but Ebenezer Scrooge.

Varadkar famously told The Irish Timesthat Tiny Tim should get a job. That sums up the cold-hearted Thatcherite ideology of Fine Gael. This will be a Government that puts the corporate landlords and big developers before those who are homeless or struggling to pay rent. It will be a Government that puts the energy companies' profits before the needs of people to heat their homes. It will be a Government that makes the right noises on ecological crisis abroad and then conveniently forgets about them in order to serve the interests of big agribusiness and big tech at home. It will be a Government which continues the campaign to undermine whatever is left of Irish neutrality in order to line Ireland up with NATO and European militarisation. We now have a Taoiseach who does not think that the ethics legislation or the Official Secrets Act apply to him. Richard Nixon said: "Well, when the President does it, that means it is not illegal." Replace "President" with "Taoiseach" and that is Varadkar's defence to leaking a confidential document to a political supporter. He thinks he can do whatever he likes as long as he says he did it while Taoiseach. While proposing Leo Varadkar for Taoiseach, Deputy Bruton said that he launched the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment. What an incredible rewriting of history to erase the campaigning of many heroic women, who were fighting for repeal while Varadkar was still opposing abortion even in cases of rape. That struggle for bodily autonomy will continue. It will not be led by right-wing neoliberals, but by socialist feminists. It is movements from below that have delivered the positive change we have won over the past decade, from marriage equality to water charges to repeal.

This Scrooge Government will be haunted by major movement of opposition. The 20,000 people we saw on the streets a few months ago protesting about the cost-of-living crisis gives a glimpse of the movements that are possible, for action on the housing crisis, to shield people from the cost-of living crisis, for action to match words on climate and biodiversity, and in opposition to militarisation. Within those movements and among working-class people generally, attention is increasingly focusing on the next election and the need to clear out Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The parties of the establishment are in deep decline. The rearranging of a couple of deckchairs on the Titanictoday is an expression of the weakness of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, not their strength. This could well be an historic day. We may have seen the last ever Fianna Fáil Taoiseach. An enormous opportunity is approaching; the chance to finally, after 100 years, have a government without Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. Enormous responsibility rests with Sinn Féin. More and more people are looking to that party for fundamental change. We have seen this sort of hope before. The Labour Party and the Green Party raised people's hopes and then dashed them by going into coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. We need to break the cycle of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael rule, and the cycle of betrayal of those who are looking for change. I appeal to Deputy McDonald to rule out coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I ask her to commit not to put them back in power, and instead fight for a left government, which can put the question of fundamental change on the agenda - one that serves working-class people, small farmers and young people, instead of the developers, big agribusiness and the energy companies. I ask her to fight for a government that is committed to eco-socialist change; to banning evictions, building public housing and reducing rents; to introducing price controls and nationalising the energy companies; to repealing the Industrial Relations Act and introducing a minimum wage of €15 an hour; to introducing free, frequent expanded public transport, a programme of retrofitting and quality green jobs; to ending Ireland's tax haven status; and to using the enormous wealth in this country to guarantee a decent quality of living for all.

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