Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Tá rud amháin cinnte domsa inniu agus is é sin gurb é seo mo lá deireanach i nDáil Éireann. Ba mhaith liom a rá go bhfuil mé an-bhuíoch de gach duine a thug cabhair agus tacaíocht dom trína blianta. Tá mé an-dóchasach go mbeidh Councillor Hazel de Nortúin ina suí anseo tar éis an olltoghcháin.

I thank the staff of the Oireachtas. They are incredibly generous with their time and their help. No matter what department or where you look for help in this House, you get it 100%. I also want to say, however, that I am looking forward to not banging my head off a wall. I have done it for the past nine years and have had enough of it. Hazel can bang her head off the wall when she comes in here. I have fantastic colleagues and we have worked really hard to make a difference. We have put forward radical Bills that would change people's lives, make big changes to the climate and environment, make changes to the housing crisis the Government created and dent the desperation people feel in health, homelessness, housing and kids' special needs, and every which way, we have been blocked by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, as have other progressive measures from the rest of the Opposition.

I want to focus today on how we end 100 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. When I was born in 1957, de Valera was in power, and before that, it had been Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael since the State was founded. We still have Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, although they have shrunk so much they have had to join forces. When will these parties stop making promises before an election and then breaking them once they get into power? When will they stop treating people as if they are just tools for their idea of control and power? To be honest, they have always preferred the interests of big business, developers, bankers and the rich in this country and that is why, as we live in one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, we have one of the greatest levels of inequality. It is to our shame that that is what goes on.

I also have a question for all of the Opposition groups and party leaders. When will they stop propping up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and will they make a commitment to the Irish people that if they are returned in this election, they will not prop up either of these 100-year-old parties of failure? The failure is enormous. There is huge suffering in the homes of Ireland today, with kids with special needs and scoliosis, and people living in crowded, emotionally dangerous conditions, without any hope for the future. Young workers are exiting this country when they have their degrees, whether in education or health, to make a life for themselves elsewhere. As we close the Dáil today, the Government’s refusal to sanction Israel has been an utter disgrace and will be a legacy of the previous Dáil that nobody will accept. It is an utter disgrace that the Government has not passed the occupied territories Bill but it is now kicking it around as if it gives the Government some credibility.

When will the Government stop making false promises to the Irish public and breaking them once it gets into power? We have to end the 100 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, break the cycle and give people a real alternative. All of us on this side of the House have a responsibility to do that, including, by the way, those who call themselves Independents, who cannot wait to prop up either of the parties after the election.

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