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

Israel must be held to account. There have to be consequences for the Netanyahu regime and its genocidal actions. I feel certain there will be a united call from these benches, the Opposition benches, and from the Irish public that this Government should do the right thing by Palestine.

I have said before that elections are where Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael make their promises and it is in government where they break them. If this document is the product of Fine Gael's supposed new energy, then I am afraid the tank is running on empty and the lights have gone out. If this document is where Fianna Fáil's moving forward together intends to bring us, then it points in the direction of continued failure. Our people deserve much better. They are entitled to see ambition to make their lives better. Another five years of mediocrity simply will not cut it. The priorities for Government must be to ensure that everybody can have a home of their own, to transform our health services, to deliver affordable childcare and to really tackle the cost of living. These things can and must be fixed but they will only be fixed by moving beyond the broken politics that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have followed for generations. I believe the day will come when we will have a new government for working people. That is why we will work harder than ever to represent people, to stand up for them, to fight their corner, to convince and to reassure more people that there is a better way.

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