Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I begin by congratulating Deputy Harris on becoming Taoiseach. It is a huge honour and a proud day for him and his family, friends and supporters. I also acknowledge those who have been appointed and reappointed to the Cabinet and I wish them the very best in their respective portfolios. However, I also have to ask what we are really doing here today. We are reshuffling some of the personalities, but keeping all of the same old policies. This is not change. The difference is barely discernible. The Taoiseach tells us that he has new energy, but there is little else that is new about this Government. The third iteration of this Cabinet has some new faces, but no new ideas, no new plans and no new policies. In fact, we have just heard speech after speech from Government benches defending the status quo. According to that side of the House, the Government is doing an amazing job. One of the stand-out speeches from earlier today was when we heard the strongest defence of the housing Minister's performance from the leader of the Green Party. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, seems to view record house prices, record rents, more than 4,000 children growing up in emergency accommodation and a complete collapse in homeownership as a job well done. Loyalty to the Government is one thing, but this spin that everything is going to plan is quite frankly difficult to listen to.

It is important to be clear about how we got here. Decades of failed policy have caused this crisis. Pointing this out is not political point-scoring; it is simply pointing out the blindingly obvious, which is that successive Government plans have not worked and are not working. This Government and previous governments have had endless opportunities to get housing right. People have waited long enough. Last year alone, 21,000 people left for Australia. Others are leaving for Canada, Dubai and elsewhere. Many do not want to go, but they feel they are being forced out because a lack of affordable housing means their lives here are on hold. The housing disaster did not happen by accident or by some sort of fluke. Political choices made by successive governments have resulted in the aspirations and dreams of an entire generation being diminished or completely destroyed. I do not believe that the people who got us into this mess are the people who can get us out of it. The Taoiseach does not have to take my word for it; the record of successive Fine Gael governments for the past 13 years says it all. The wrong political choices got us into this crisis, but the right ones can get us out. That is why we need a change in government.

Small independent businesses are really suffering. In rural areas, in particular, it is one of the biggest issues I am dealing with at the moment. Small businesses like cafes and restaurants are the lifeblood of small towns and villages across the country. They provide employment and social outlets. They help to deal with rural isolation and they keep our towns and villages alive. However, many have closed and are at risk of closure because the costs of running a business have increased so much. I honestly could not believe my eyes yesterday when I read in The Irish Times that the Taoiseach's answer to this is to dismantle workers' rights. Opposing the increase in statutory sick leave would be an insult to workers and to those businesses. Statutory sick pay schemes are well established across Europe and the absence of one for so long in Ireland has left generations of workers vulnerable. The Taoiseach's position pits workers against small business owners. It is not the solution. We need targeted supports for small hospitality businesses under severe pressure that would provide instant and tangible relief. At the weekend he said that Fine Gael will introduce a package to support small businesses. That would be welcome. When can we expect to see it and the detail of it? Businesses are at risk of closing their doors and simply cannot wait any longer.

I want to address Fine Gael's self-described status as the party of law and order. Fine Gael has now held the justice portfolio without interruption since 2011. Some 13 years later, Garda numbers are down again below 14,000 this year and nowhere near the 15,000 figure this Government committed to. Prisons are dangerously overcrowded at 110% capacity, posing a serious threat to prisoners and to prison officers. Our capital city is in alarming decline with antisocial behaviour, dereliction, littering and vandalism now the norm. I am sure the Taoiseach can understand, given all that, why Fine Gael referring to itself as the party of law and order just feels like spin. For two years, my colleague Deputy Gannon has been pleading with Fine Gael Ministers to convene a multi-agency task force on safety in the city of Dublin, but nothing was done until last weekend when the new Taoiseach announced that he was adopting Deputy Gannon's suggestion. I hope that for Dublin it will be more than a throwaway line in a conference speech. It must be followed by action, and the task force must be more than a talking shop. I ask him who will be sitting on the task force, what resources it will have, what specific issues will be tackled and what the timelines for delivery are.

Dublin is an amazing city but it needs some help. We hope the Taoiseach will provide it and we will work with him if he follows through on his promise.

For the remaining few months of this Government, the Taoiseach will be Ireland's voice on a world stage and there is nowhere where our voice is more important than on Gaza. Gaza has been turned into a hell on earth. More than 33,000 men, women and children have been killed and famine is looming closer by the minute. Not content with targeting hospitals and innocent civilians, Israeli forces continue to target brave aid workers doing everything they can to help the Palestinian people. The callous murder of seven aid workers last week meant a withdrawal of World Central Kitchen from Gaza where it had been feeding 500,000 people a day, further limiting aid at a time when starving children are eating grass and weeds for nourishment. The level of malnutrition is so high now that Gaza urgently needs to be flooded with medical aid workers to prevent famine and the starvation of thousands, but Israel will not allow it.

The Taoiseach's words to date on Gaza have been strong. I am asking the Taoiseach to match them with action, to do everything in his power to hold Israel accountable for its acts of genocide, and to do everything in his power to hold our allies accountable for their complicity in this slaughter because the silence from some has been deafening. It was notable last week that it took the murder of seven western aid workers for some western countries to notice. Nothing less than punitive economic and diplomatic sanctions along with an immediate end to the supply of weapons to Israel, by countries such as the United States and Germany, is required.

We have to be strong in pushing for action internationally and for taking whatever actions we can at home. I welcome what the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Micheál Martin, said about recognising the state of Palestine. We would like to know when, timelines and all such things. It is a really welcome development.

I was also really concerned to see that, at the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis at the weekend, the Taoiseach voted down a motion to enact the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. In a sovereign state there are only a few things available to us within our own power to do unilaterally - recognise the state of Palestine, introduce the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023. We could also remove the diplomatic status of the ambassador. At times like this, we need to stand up and be counted. I am calling on the Taoiseach to do all of those things.

Outside of the political bubble, what difference will this repackaged Cabinet make to the lives of people in this country? Will there be any change in approach on the key issues we face as a country? That is the critical question. The truth is we have a new Taoiseach today, not because of the interests the country demanded but because Fine Gael's election interests required one. That is merely the reality. The former Taoiseach was clear that he felt the party's local and European candidates would fare better under a new leader, and here we are today. I genuinely wish this was the catalyst for the change we need, but after listening to the Cabinet, to the new Taoiseach and to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs for the past hour, I do not hold out too much hope. I say to people out there who feel disillusioned at the lack of real change in the Chamber today that I hope they will not have to wait much longer. Time is running out for this Government. Real change is on the horizon. My biggest call to the Taoiseach in his short time in this role is to do what he can with all of the issues I have raised.

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