Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will take five minutes.

I offer personal congratulations to Simon Harris. On a personal level, it is positive for him and his family that he has been made Taoiseach but, sadly, for the country and ordinary people, it is a nothing day. It is a day of lost opportunity. There is no doubt that Simon Harris will not change the focus of this Government. That is the problem with this appointment. I also take the opportunity to wish Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney well on a personal level. Unfortunately, it is not possible to separate the personal from the political in this context. That is the problem overall.

After today's speeches, we have another excuse for doing nothing to add to the lexicon of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, supported by whatever party thinks it can make hay by supporting them. For years we have been treated to the maxim that the permanent government is at fault, or that the Government would love to be able to do something but European policy will not allow it. We can now add to the litany of do-nothing complaints, namely, that global megatrends are responsible for us not being able to sort out the housing crisis. The one big positive that will come out of this is it will show once and for all that no matter who leads Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil, it will not change how this country is run. That is the problem.

The people of Ireland need a change of direction in government, where the emphasis is on looking after those who need it, and putting citizens first, not developers or businesses. To my mind, that simple change of emphasis would make a huge difference to people across the board. I do not believe Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael are capable of doing that. The one thing about this Government is that it has categorically shown once and for all there is no substantial difference between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. That is something that needed to happen. For too long, the people were conned into thinking there was a difference, and that if they changed the government to one or other of those parties, there would be a change in policy or direction. We can now see that changing the leader will make no difference either. For that, I thank the Taoiseach, Deputy Harris.

The nomination of members of the Government shows nothing new. I wrote this speech before I knew who they would be. We are merely rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic that is this Government. We have a man who was an utter failure as Minister for Health, who brought down the previous Government, but is now leading the country. It is onwards and upwards for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael but, sadly, it will be the ordinary citizens who will suffer.

So many issues need to be sorted out, including housing and the defective blocks crisis that will affect so many more homes, health services, homelessness, neutrality, childcare and education, which all affect the cost of living that is a major crisis for citizens.

The leader of Fianna Fáil indicated his willingness to recognise the state of Palestine but gave no commitment on a date or anything else in that regard. He just said he is willing to do it. That is a big consolation. We will see by election time whether actually happens.

One example will show how this Government benefits businesses rather than citizens. The auto-enrolment pension scheme on which the deputy leader of Fine Gael is leading will hand millions to private pension companies, while leaving workers in the lurch. The Minister has refused to look at a proposal that would lead to greater rewards for workers, guaranteeing them pensions on retirement that are 53% of earnings rather than, as proposed by the private sector, 22% of earnings, with a retirement lump sum that is 144% of the private scheme for a worker who is 25 years of age today. That will not benefit pension companies and brokers, so the Government does not want to know. That is not the fault of the permanent government, Europe or global megatrends; it is squarely the fault of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party.

That is the problem with a Government that is not responsive to the citizens. The latter can be traced in every place the Government operates. We need a Government that does not look for excuses and will look after citizens and provide services for them. Everything else will look after itself.

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