Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I start my contribution by going back in time to 27 June 2020, the day Deputy Micheál Martin became Taoiseach. Back then the Dáil business was conducted in the convention centre, as we well remember, and the country was in strict lockdown. It was so strict his family were not able to be with him on that important day for them and for him. I acknowledge he led by example on that occasion and throughout the crisis. We are all grateful for that.

Deputy Martin has always viewed the office of Taoiseach and the awesome responsibility it entails with the respect and reverence it deserves and has undoubtedly worked very hard as Taoiseach. That hard work and gruelling schedule necessitated many personal sacrifices for him and his family, which he spoke about earlier. It is important to acknowledge that. Politics is all-consuming and family life and personal relationships can sometimes bear the brunt of that.

Usually when a Taoiseach steps down, the exit route is clear and the door closes behind a life in full-time politics. The role of rotating Taoiseach is very different, as we see today. Instead of an exit route, it is more like a roundabout with the Government going around in circles. Crucially, there is no real change in direction and there will not be after today. The new Taoiseach, when appointed, will not veer from the course set by the programme for Government. That is why the Social Democrats will not be supporting the nomination for Taoiseach of Deputy Varadkar. We cannot support the programme for Government, which is a failure and has failed to deliver for people who most need support. This is especially true when it comes to housing.

A statistic which exemplifies the Fianna Fáil and Fine-Gael failure when it comes to the housing disaster is that between 2004 and 2021 the proportion of young people in their late 20s still living in their childhood bedrooms increased from 36% to 61%, the highest increase in young people being forced to continue to live at home anywhere in the European Union. That is a fact. Is it any wonder, then, that the recent EUROSTAT poll revealed that Irish young people are among those who express the most dissatisfaction with life anywhere in the EU? In the majority of EU countries, life satisfaction is higher among young people than older people, but the reverse is true in Ireland. It gives me no pleasure to say this, but Ireland is no country for young people. We all know the reasons for that. Young people cannot afford the exorbitant cost of living in Ireland and the Government has not helped with that.

Rents in Dublin are now at an astronomical €2,300 per month, or €28,000 per year. In the rest of the country, rents have also climbed to record highs of €1,600 per month, or €19,200 per year. The minimum wage is €21,294. If you are living outside of Dublin, you have the grand total of €2,094 per annum to live on after rent. That is €40 per week. It is now impossible for young people living in Dublin to survive on the minimum wage, or even, for many people, on very good wages.

Throughout his tenure, the outgoing Taoiseach repeatedly said the housing disaster is the biggest societal problem we face. I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment but I prefer to deal with facts and not sentiment. It is not evident the Government is treating the housing disaster as the emergency it is. All it has to cling to is a list of targets that were set in the Housing for All plan and which are now, as we all know, woefully inadequate and out of date.

People cannot live in or on targets. They need houses they can afford, whether those houses are to rent or to buy.

It is not just about bricks and mortar. The price of the housing crisis is being paid by 3,480 children losing their childhoods as they grow up in emergency accommodation, by the relationships that breakdown because of the stress of housing insecurity, by the couples who postpone having a family and by those disconnected communities that result when people are unable to put down roots. What kind of society are we building when affordability is now defined by the Government as being €450,000 in Dublin and €400,000 in Cork or Galway? Do you know a mortgage on those amounts is at least €114,000? Increasingly, Ireland has become a country of haves and have-nots.

The most vulnerable are being left behind without so much as a second glance by this Government. The cost-of-living crisis is decimating workers and their families throughout the country who are now struggling to survive. The supports offered by the Government have not been enough to keep people's heads over water. In an indictment of the Government's failure to protect the most vulnerable, elderly people - we heard it this week on the radio - are presenting to hospital with hypothermia because they are not heating their homes.

In the absence of leadership from this Government, civil society has stepped into the breach. It was reported yesterday that primary schools throughout the country are now distributing food vouchers to help the struggling families put food on the table this Christmas. On Wednesday the Capuchin Day Centre had to stop handing out tickets for its Christmas hamper due to safety concerns after thousands of people turned up seeking help. According to one man who had volunteered with that service since 1972, it was the worst he had ever seen. State supports for those who need them most are threadbare and disintegrating.

Children with disabilities are being denied basic healthcare and their educational entitlements and, with them, the right to reach their full potential. More than 110,000 children are now on waiting lists for therapies such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and disability services. It is not acceptable for the Government to blame recruitment problems for a failure to provide essential services. If services were properly planned and prioritised, crucial staff would be in place. Waiting lists are now a feature, not a flaw, of the health service. How else does one explain how there are more than 900,000 people on some form of waiting list for care? Waiting lists have soared despite record investments in the health service in recent years. Why? It is because pumping money into a broken system will not produce the desired results. We need a reform of the health service. Reform was set out in the Sláintecare plan but has not been properly implemented.

The Green Party has maintained its presence in Government because it says it wants to deliver on climate action. However, the people who supported the Green Party are now learning that its climate rhetoric does not match climate action. The figures speak for themselves. Our emissions last year went up by 5.4%. The target reduction was 4.8%. Just last week we had another damning report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, which warned that our emissions have contributed to an increase this year of 6%. We have just eight years to stop the worst impacts of the climate crisis and an irreversible climate catastrophe. Under this Government, our chances of reaching that climate target are becoming increasingly remote.

The potential and desire for change is huge in Ireland. People have great belief that we can do better. However, people want genuine change, not a repackaging of stale parties or policies as something new. This handing-over of the baton from the Taoiseach to the Tánaiste does not represent real change.

This rotation of Taoiseach will not serve the people out there who need new politics informed by the values of social democracy that delivers for them. The only thing it will achieve is finally sounding the death knell for the Civil War politics after a century, and the pretence that there ever any real difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

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