Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too am pleased today to be able to contribute as part of these statements before the meetings of the European Council over the next two days. I do not intend to disparage the Taoiseach in any way, and I wish him well on his decision to resign as the leader of Fine Gael. An election will be held in the party to replace him. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, will be there at the meetings but I think the Taoiseach will be seen as a lame-duck participant this time because of the situation he has announced today. In any case, my long-time and continuing concerns relate to what really goes on at these meetings. I have asked the Minister of State this question before. Does he really bring the concerns of this House to these meetings?

We have seen from the recent referendums, the first chance people got to give an opinion on this Government's stewardship of the country over the last four years, that it is completely, totally and overwhelmingly out of touch with the feelings of the people on the ground and out of touch with what we have been saying here in this Chamber, or certainly what our Rural Independent Group has been saying. I do not know how the Government could have gone forward with two referendums that were so totally unwanted and deceitful and where there was such a lack of clarity, as well as the hidden advice from the Attorney General and the interdepartmental group. The Government thought it could walk on water and really do what it likes.

It is doing the same when its members go to these summits. They are the first people to stand up and say, yes sir, aye aye sir and three bags full sir. It looks like whatever is proposed in Europe, our Irish people here are the first to take it, without question. I have asked the Minister of State in the past about the number of people coming in here from abroad because of the war in Ukraine and, indeed, now with other displacements, IPAS and everything else. I asked specifically under what article we are obliged to take all these people in. Look, I wish them all well and, God help us, people need support. I think the answer I got back referred to some 1954 proclamation from the United Nations that we should take these international applicants. Many of them are fleeing war, but clearly we know that many of them are coming through Europe and were in other countries before they decided to come here. Indeed, it might have been three or four countries in Europe. Are the members of the Government raising this issue with their colleagues in Europe? Are they not asking if they can help us? We are a small country off the European mainland. Our island country just cannot cope.

All the members of the Government went on their merry way for St. Patrick's Day, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, all over the world. I have no problem with some people going, but, my God, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth was in Japan, of all places in the world, while the mayhem and bedlam was going on over on Mount Street, ar an taobh thiar dínn anseo. I refer to the whole situation that was unfolding. An effort was made for St. Patrick's Day to have it looking not so bad, while the Minister was out in Japan. How is it possible for the Government to be so out of touch that it is possible for it to allow people in and then have no place to put them? How is it possible to allow them to be living in such awful situations and squalor here in the capital and then bus them out to somewhere in County Dublin? Of course, many of them came back in because that was not the solution either.

The Government's policies, therefore, are ham-fisted. They reap what they sow. I am not referring to the Minister of State. The Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, especially, and Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have sown the seeds in this regard to show everybody we are weak and will just do whatever we are asked to do. We are like nodding donkeys. We nod away, say that everything is fine, we are happy with it and Europe should carry on with its merry way. It is the same idea in respect of having overwhelmingly involved ourselves in the war in Ukraine. This is a war I do not believe can be won, unfortunately. The Russian aggressors are awful, but clearly the war cannot be won. We also see the absolute carnage in Gaza. While the Government has been strong in its condemnation of what is happening there in this Parliament, I do not know what role it is playing in Europe.

I say this because if the Government had stood by what we had been here, an independent, neutral and sovereign state, more respect would have been gained for us. Every time the Tánaiste talks, however, he wants us to be in a European army of some sort or other and to be involved in things we should not be involved in. He is not listening to the people. Mar fhocal scoir anocht, cad a tharla i gCorcaigh Dé hAoine seo caite? I refer to where the four TDs there, the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath and Deputy Ó Laoghaire of Sinn Féin were all advocating a Yes vote, and were then overwhelmingly rejected. When is the Government going to listen to the people of Ireland? When are its members going to listen and represent the people of Ireland at home, first, and, equally importantly, abroad? The Government is completely out of step and out of tune.

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