Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Government and the newly appointed Ministers. This is a special day for them and their families. The Government that has been presented to us tonight is like a shabby, broken down house that has had a slap of paint thrown over it. The hope is that it will all be fine on the night, lads. That is what this Government is. I read the programme for Government. I thought I would be in for a long night's reading. I was shocked to find out that this programme for Government is a copy of the previous programme for Government. This Government is out with the same and back in with the same.

The Government has ignored the fact that 15,000 people will be homeless tonight and that 611 people are on hospital trolleys as we speak. People are living in boxrooms in their parents' houses. A generation of people will never own their own homes thanks to this Government and 20 years of Fine Gael, being backed up, in one form or another, by Fianna Fáil. This house that has been built and that has had a slap of paint over it has been reinforced by a set of Independents with a serious crack in their foundation.

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