Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach announced yesterday that he is to resign. I reiterate my good wishes to him for the future. I wished him the best personally yesterday acknowledged his years of public service. As he said, all politicians are human, and I acknowledge that he has endured some awful abuse personally in his office as Taoiseach. We are all aware of that. We are also aware that it has become harder to enter politics, and to stay in it due to the levels of toxicity in public debate. I acknowledge the Ceann Comhairle's role in trying to challenge that. We all have to address that together.

However, this should not deter us from criticising what is clearly a bad political decision from Government to continue in office, despite the Taoiseach's announcement yesterday. This Government is out of ideas and lacking in focus, commitment, ambition and energy. It appears the decision of the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, is to effectively preserve the current Government above all else and to preserve its term, as the Tánaiste has said, right to the end next March. That decision puts the longevity of a Fine Gael-led Government above the public interest, and it will be the second time Fianna Fáil has done this. In the previous Dáil term, Brexit was the excuse they gave. This time around it is an appeal for stability. However, the late in the day swapping of leadership is deeply destabilising when it is the leadership of the country. The Tánaiste may wish that was not so, but it is the case. After two rotating taoisigh in four years, and with less than a year to go until the next general election must be held, by this day next year, Fine Gael is proposing that its members should choose a new Taoiseach, not the people. In our view that is wrong. It is against the democratic imperative. The Constitution may permit this act of political self-preservation, but it is absurd to say this is in keeping with a democratic imperative.

So much has happened since 2020. We have endured the pandemic. We have seen rents, house prices, and child homelessness at record highs. More than 4,000 children are now in homelessness. Horrific wars have broken out in the past four years due to the brutal, murderous policies of Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu. So much has happened and there are political solutions available to us, but the Government is now lacking the focus and energy to implement those solutions. It is clearly distracted, even more so now. Fine Gael is grappling with an exodus, and Fianna Fáil and the Greens will apparently cling to a sinking ship no matter what, following yesterday. It is having a serious effect on our policies and governance at a time people need politics to work. The Tánaiste has spoken about the planning Bill, but the Government is rushing that important legislation through.

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