Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am very glad that we have reached agreement today and the Chief Whip read out an agreed form of words acknowledging what was a self-evident truth, namely, that a TD could not be in government and in opposition at the same time. That was the core democratic principle that we, across the Opposition, united on yesterday. The situation in the Dáil yesterday was deeply regrettable but it should never have come to that. This was a chaos of the Government's own making. I am glad that the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste reached out in the end and that we had a leaders' meeting this morning and were able to resolve things, as we had sought to do. It is important that we have done that and can move on because the Government has an important task. The success of this Government will be for the betterment of all in Irish society. Instead of going into a two-week recess, we should be convening the Dáil next week so that we can fulfil our constitutional duty to hold the Government to account from the Opposition benches. The Government should now be actively engaging in bringing about the change so badly needed by the communities that we all serve and represent.

Change is desperately needed for the families facing eviction at the end of this month and for the 4,500 children now in homelessness. That is a source of shame for all of us. Change is also needed for the parents who cannot access autism supports or additional needs places for their children, for patients languishing on waiting lists and for all the young adults, whom we all know, who are booking one-way tickets to Australia because they see no life and no prospect of an affordable home here.

Instead of working on the radical changes that are needed, Fianna Fáil, the junior coalition partner, Fine Gael, and, of course, the wobbly leg of the stool, the so-called regional group, are offering a 160-page programme for Government that essentially is promising more of the same. If you parse that document, there is no sense of any acceptance at all of a need for change. There is no indication as to how the Government will deliver on the few new commitments or aspirations set out. Indeed, many of the measures in the programme will see us going backwards. There is nothing there on how the Government is going to achieve the ramped-up delivery homes that we all know is so badly needed. Instead, we are seeing more outsourcing of housing. There is nothing to strengthen renters' rights. The Government has even ignored its own Housing Commission's recommendations. There is no sense here of a radical reset on housing policy. It is welcome that the climate targets are retained but no meaningful pathway is set out for how we achieve them. What is worse is the slashing of funds for cycling, public transport and sustainable transport in favour of building more roads.

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