Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is no reason to believe that, having caused a housing crisis and made it worse, having sustained a crisis in health, having failed to deliver for working people, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, its junior partner, are in any position to straighten matters out. The parties that created these problems are not going to solve them. It is as simple as that.

I was alarmed this morning to hear, as I went innocently about my business in my kitchen, Members from Government benches on the airwaves congratulating themselves on their performance in housing and health over the past five years. Let us be very clear. No amount of back slapping or plámás can hide your failures because people live with them. Yours is a partnership designed to cling to power at all costs and to preserve the status quo for as long as you possibly can. The past five years demonstrated in the sharpest way that the parties that have led Government now for 100 years have run out of steam and have run out of ideas. They remain wedded to broken policies. They dress up their failures as success and then they offer the same worn-out excuses when challenged. All the while, the crises in housing and health and the cost of living have deepened. Spin, soundbites, broken promises and excuses are not the currency of good government. Government is rightly judged on action, delivery and results.

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