Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----was an arrogance born out of disrespect for the constitutional right of an Opposition party to hold the Government to account. What I heard from the Taoiseach was the sound of entitlement. It was noise from a party that is failing on housing and is more interested in keeping the roof of Government Buildings over its head than providing roofs over the heads of children who are at risk of homelessness this week.

It is not the precarious housing situation that keeps the Taoiseach awake at night but, rather, the precarious Dáil arithmetic. The past week has been one of shame and embarrassment for this House. Decent politics and good governance have been brought into disrepute. The antics of the Government, with its grubby little side deals with the cheap dates in the so-called Independent ranks, will live in infamy. Transparency has been sacrificed on the altar of those grubby little side hustles. The sight of the Government's first substitutes limbering up, hoping to catch the eye of the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, has been nothing short of pathetic. It is decision time now for those Independents. This is a binary choice. It is not like the motion last week, which was amendable. This is a black-and white choice. It is "Yes" or "No". Are they with the people who elected them to work on behalf of the public good and the common interest or are they fully paid-up members of this conservative coalition's second term? If the road or village community centre those Independents have been promised is more important than the fate of children who may spend the school holidays looking aimlessly for new homes, it really is time for those on the Independent benches in this House to take a damn good look at themselves and examine their consciences. The Taoiseach's conservative coalition is becoming a coalition of chaos, beholden to a rag-tag bunch of Independents for survival, and we have no confidence in it.

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