Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I move:

That, pursuant to section 39 of the Electoral Act 1992 and owing to the vacancy in the office of the Clerk of the Dáil, the Ceann Comhairle direct the Clerk-Assistant of the Dáil to issue his writ for the election of a Member to fill the vacancy which has occurred in the membership of the present Dáil consequent on the election to the European Parliament of Brian Hayes, a member for the constituency of Dublin South-West.

and

That, pursuant to section 39 of the Electoral Act 1992 and owing to the vacancy in the office of the Clerk of the Dáil, the Ceann Comhairle direct the Clerk-Assistant of the Dáil to issue his writ for the election of a Member to fill the vacancy which has occurred in the membership of the present Dáil consequent on the election to the European Parliament of Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, a Member for the constituency of Roscommon-South Leitrim.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The two by-elections in Roscommon-South Leitrim and Dublin South West are taking place as a result of the departure of two Members of the Dáil to the European Parliament following the elections of 23 May. This Government reformed the Electoral Act 2011 to provide that a by-election must take place within six months of a vacancy arising. Therefore, it is appropriate that, on our first day back in Dáil Éireann following the summer recess, we move as quickly as possible to fill the two vacancies. The people in both constituencies deserve the opportunity to return to their full quota of representatives in Dáil Éireann as soon as they can. I welcome the fact that these elections will be held on Friday, 10 October, and I look forward to both campaigns.

The two by-elections will take place at a time of cautious optimism about the country's future. As a result of the work undertaken by the Government, and the willingness of the people to stay the course through an immensely difficult process, we now have strong economic and employment growth. Retail sales are up, tax revenues are ahead of target and there are 75,000 more people at work since the depths of the crisis in 2012. We are on a long journey out of the dark times that befell the country and we are coming to a better future, but we are not there yet. The Government still has work to do and the upcoming budget will be an important part of cementing the recovery.

These by-elections will take place a matter of days before that budget. I have said repeatedly over recent days that while we hope this budget will be start of a process of gradually restoring prosperity, that can only be achieved over a series of budgets and not in one fell swoop.

Nonetheless, I believe people can see we are firmly on the right track and can see the signs of recovery slowly but surely spreading to their communities.

While Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim are contrasting urban and rural constituencies, many of the issues that concern the families living there are the same - getting and holding onto a good job, sending children to good schools and seeing their communities flourish. On each of these, the Labour Party is delivering.

Our number one priority is job creation, getting people off the live register and boosting employment through capital investments. To make sure that standards are maintained, we are establishing a low pay commission to recommend on the appropriate level of the minimum wage. We are driving capital investment in schools to ensure children have the facilities in which to thrive, succeed and reach their potential and we are investing in the provision of homes to rebuild communities in urban and rural Ireland.

Our two candidates in these by-elections - Councillor Pamela Kearns in Dublin South West and Senator John Kelly in Roscommon-South Leitrim - are both excellent and hardworking public representatives. They are both deeply committed to their communities and have a track record of working on issues to improve people's lives. They will each make outstanding representatives for their constituencies in Dáil Éireann, and contribute to the continuing recovery of our country.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the calling of these by-elections. I have no doubt that they will mark another wake-up call for a Government which is more and more out of touch with the reality faced everyday by families throughout this country. From its first moments in office, this has been a Government obsessed with putting spin ahead of substance. Fundamental election promises were abandoned overnight and it began a permanent public relations campaign. It is almost three years since the Taoiseach went on the airwaves to declare that his Government had saved us all. It is even longer since the Labour Party started making speeches about how it was delivering fairness in everything.

In the gap between the rhetoric and the reality, what has emerged is a two-tiered recovery – where some are doing well because of the improved international situation but many are being left behind. The only decisive shift in policy which came in with Fine Gael and Labour in 2011 was a shift to more regressive policies. They are policies which have hit struggling families and communities the hardest, policies which have piled up charge upon charge with no consideration for the ability to pay and

policies which have undermined services and brought chaos to too many vital sectors. Every single independent study, national or international, has confirmed that the more difficulty a person has in paying their bills, the harder this Government has hit them.

Yesterday, we had what may be the 50th front-page headline of the year proclaiming that relief is on the way for hard-pressed families. This was greeted with weary derision throughout the country. With the property tax, water charges and other bills landing in their homes, hard-pressed families know that this is nothing but an exercise in trying to take them for fools. In Roscommon-South Leitrim and Dublin South West, we have communities which have felt the impact of Government policies even more than others. In 2011, these constituencies believed Fine Gael and Labour's promises and gave them seven out of a possible nine seats. Instead of getting the democratic revolution or the long list of actions they were promised, they got a record of neglect locally combined with national policies which have hit them disproportionately.

In these by-elections, Fianna Fáil is fielding two first-class candidates - Councillor Ivan Connaughton and Councillor John Lahart - who will offer a different approach. Rooted in their communities, they share a commitment to standing against deeply unfair Government policies, standing up for essential local services and being strong advocates for their communities and regions. In the past few weeks, I have been able to visit many parts of both constituencies. I am very grateful for the warm welcome which I have received and the time which people have been willing to spend with me talking about the issues which concern them.

I hope the Taoiseach and his Ministers will find the time to do more than a few photo opportunities during these elections because if they do, they will find that their complacent picture of the economy and of the impact of their policies is detached from reality. In Roscommon-South Leitrim, people are already being bombarded with Government material claiming to have delivered all sorts of progress. The facts show a part of the country that has been particularly badly hit by a combination of neglect and damaging policies. I have been on the doorsteps with Ivan Connaughton across Leitrim and Roscommon. People feel neglected. They feel this Government has left them behind. That is the genuine view on the ground in these areas - whether it is the paucity of IDA visits, the lack of broadband capability or the lack of an overall vision for rural Ireland in those counties. That is their sense of it.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Martin now knows the scale of the challenge we face.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It was in this constituency that the sheer cynicism of Fine Gael's 2011 campaign was first exposed. The party started by distributing leaflets pledging to protect services, specifically accident and emergency services in the hospital in Roscommon. The Taoiseach then stood in a market square and said at great volume that Fine Gael could be trusted to protect hospital services and accident and emergency services as a priority in government.

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Patients are safer and the hospital is busier.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In fact soon after the Government took up office, Roscommon Hospital was put on a priority list to have services closed down, particularly accident and emergency services, and this was rushed through at maximum speed - so much so that the locals put a tape out for ages afterward containing the song "All The Lies That You Told Me".

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

So is Deputy Martin committing to one?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Does the Taoiseach know the tune called "All The Lies That You Told Me"? That played for a long time in Roscommon.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

So is Deputy Martin promising one?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will not do what the Taoiseach did. I will not stand on the back of a truck and tell a bare-faced untruth to the people in any knowing fashion. I am not going to do what the Taoiseach did. I will tell him one thing about accident and emergency services. I delivered the accident and emergency department to Roscommon - the one the Taoiseach took away.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is Deputy Martin promising one?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I did much more than that in terms of cardiac rehabilitation, the coronary care unit and the refurbishment of the surgeries in Roscommon Hospital. As Minister for Health, I delivered all of that for Roscommon Hospital.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am not finished. I am being interrupted. The Taoiseach, who is developing a record for his lack of candour on health, first denied that there had been any promise. This fell apart when a journalist produced a tape of him making the promise. From the day he made the promise to the day he broke it, the fiscal situation of the country had not changed – a fact confirmed by his own Ministers. The Taoiseach himself said closing the accident and emergency services was not intended to save any money. This cynical breach of faith with the people of Roscommon is still a raw issue but it is increasingly one among many.

There are thousands of families whose homes are piped with water they cannot drink yet now they are being asked to pay for that water. When they hear from a senior Fine Gael Minister that they are being "supplied with Ballygowan standard water", they are rightly angry. Families with young children are still being told that their children will be covered by a free allowance but the final figures show that a child will only have free water if they have one shower a week and go to the toilet once a day.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy's time is up.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have been to Fettercairn in Dublin South West. I was at the community centre last week. One of the people who has been working there for ten years told me that "this Government has abandoned us and has abandoned our community". That is how they feel on the doorsteps in parts of Tallaght and Fettercairn. I was there myself last week.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I must call the next speaker.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Will the Taoiseach do something about the beef crisis across the midlands that is affecting farmers in a very profound way and about which the Government has done nothing? Will he stop the discrimination? We should be getting more time for this by the way. This kind of a debate with five minutes-----

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy got more time.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is about time we got a bit more democracy. The Opposition should not be taking it from each other. I am simply making the point that five minutes for this type of debate is not good enough. We are entitled to make-----

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Was it a Sinn Féin Deputy who put down a motion to have a by-election? They forced you into it. You changed the law - six months.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Will the Taoiseach ask his councillors to make sure that they stop actively undermining efforts to reduce property tax by 15%, which was Deputy Gilmore's promise before the local elections?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil used to be afraid to hold by-elections.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Could we have some order?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am looking forward to the by-election. I hope the Government does not use the budget as an excuse to avoid getting down and meeting with people?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Certainly not.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach should go down to Roscommon, spend some time down there and listen to what people have to say because in Ivan Connaughton and John Lahart, we have people who will listen, who are rooted in their communities and who will make a difference for the better.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

They are very happy with the €60 million by-pass around Ballaghadereen and the €30 million extension into-----

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Could we have order please? Deputy Adams has the floor

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an gcinneadh atá déanta eascaire a chur amach chun na folúntais i mBaile Átha Cliath Thiar Theas agus i Ros Comáin-Liatroim Theas a líonadh.

It is also important to note that it is thank to the court case taken by Deputy Doherty that Governments can no longer drag out or delay indefinitely the holding of by-elections. When he took the case, the Fianna Fáil-led Government had dragged its feet for 18 months and denied the people of Donegal South-West their opportunity to be fully represented. That can no longer happen. Go raibh míle maith don Teachta.

We welcome the opportunity to meet people during the forthcoming by-election campaigns but we meet them all the time and not just during campaigns. Voters in Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim will face an important choice between the failed policies and politics of austerity of the past implemented by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party and their cosy consensus for cuts and the alternative offered by Sinn Féin, the only all-Ireland party with core republican values in these by-elections. It is a choice between the politics of those who see ordinary working people as an easy target and a party that stands with citizens dependent on public services who are trying to improve their standard of living. It is also a choice between those who will stand for peace in Ireland and globally and the shameful stance of the Government in its refusal to support peace in the Middle East and to stand with the people of Gaza over the summer when they came under a huge onslaught by the Israeli Defence Forces. Tá rogha ann sna fothoghcháin seo idir chothrom na Féinne agus an éagóir. Voters in Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim have been let down by the Government and most see little or no sign of the recovery that Fine Gael and the Labour Party have been boasting about. They are trying to cope with crumbling health services. The issue of Roscommon Hospital is one that people there rightly feel strongly about.

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy should call in to see a great hospital and talk to the consultants.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Voters in these constituencies are trying to cope with an unfair family home tax and they are dreading water bills in the new year. The water is not even fit to drink in Roscommon. They are trying to cope with unacceptably high levels of unemployment and the scandal of mass emigration. The Government should think about the deep damage that is being done to communities and families and our sense of ourselves. Almost 500,000 people have left the State over the past eight years. Only Sinn Féin candidates, if elected, will be part of a strong and growing party in the House and in the North voting against unfair cuts and austerity budgets, committed to the abolition of the property tax, opposing water charges, defending our public services and building peace and the political processes on this island.

I will ask voters in Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim to vote to make the change and to vote for Cathal King and Martin Kenny. They are both long-standing councillors who are deeply rooted in their communities. They are republican activists of great quality who are totally committed to what our party is trying to do across the island. We will seek a mandate for budget resources to be targeted at job creation, stimulating economic growth across all the regions and ending the scourge of mass emigration. We will also seek a mandate for the adoption of a housing policy, which delivers the necessary social housing stock to meet the needs of those languishing on waiting lists. We will continue our opposition to further cuts in the health budget. I was in Roscommon, a beautiful part of the country, in the past two weeks and we will defend rural communities and rural dwellers. We will seek a mandate for radical political and institutional reform which addresses the lack of accountability and transparency within the Oireachtas, Departments and in the policing and justice system. We will argue for increased funding for mental health provision and the resolution of the Government's continuing medical card debacle. We will also - and this is acutely important - seek the strengthening of the peace process and a united Ireland.

Sinn Féin's platform is for a clear, workable and fair alternative to the way the Government is doing business and for a fair recovery, which benefits all citizens. We will also fight these campaigns to win and to bring another two Sinn Féin Deputies to join our Oireachtas team if that is the wish of the electorate in these constituencies.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the People Before Profit Alliance, the by-elections offer a welcome opportunity to puncture the bubble of self-congratulation and the stream of bogus claims of success by the Government over recent weeks. They also offer an important opportunity to get away from a nauseating media obsession with personality spats and internal factional disputes and manoeuvrings in the main parties. These personality and ego-based disputes are going on in Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil and they are totally devoid of any talk of policy or substance.

The by-elections will give voters an opportunity to remind Members and the media what are the issues that matter and that are affecting them and to cut through the nonsense about supposed economic recovery because the truth in Roscommon, Tallaght and Templeogue is people are suffering continuing, and soon to worsen, financial hardship as a result of water charges, the full year effect of property tax, the universal social charge, cuts to public services, which are destroying the health service and a housing crisis of unprecedented proportions about which the Government is showing no urgency to address. I am proud that we have a candidate, Nicky Coules, who was recently elected a councillor in Tallaght. He has been a plumber all his life and he has lived for 32 years in Jobstown, one of the areas most blighted by unemployment and poverty and the impact of cuts by this and the previous Government. As a plumber, he knows well that we need to fix the pipes rather than charge people for the trickle of water that comes out of them and the impact of the disastrous policies of austerity on working class communities. He knows that we should put people like him back to work building social housing, primary care centres that were promised but not delivered, schools, other vital infrastructure, fixing the water pipes that could aid economic rather than engaging in spin and false promises.

I look very much forward to the by-elections. We will also give a preference to another campaigner and fighter in Dublin South West, Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The people of Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim have a unique opportunity in the by-elections on 10 October to take a massive political cudgel to the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government. Now that these parties seem to have forgotten already the trenchant lesson the people delivered to them in the local and European elections on 23 May, the voters in these by-elections should use that cudgel to clobber them back into an awareness of the harsh reality of life experienced by ordinary men, women, households and families as a result of the savage ongoing austerity implemented by them. The people of Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim have the opportunity especially to expose and deconstruct the massive hypocrisy of the Labour Party whose leader, the Tánaiste, had the sheer neck to declare last week that the budget in October would bring austerity to a close and was afforded by The Irish Timesyet another soft headline in which she promoted herself as a chief denier of austerity by the Government. She has the audacity to declare that austerity will end the very week one of the newest and most vicious austerity attacks - water charges - kicks in. Irish Water says it will cost a family of four €500 a year.

However, Irish Water has significantly underestimated people's normal water usage, and I am not talking about waste. Households of five, four and six will face bills approaching €1,000. This is the reality of the new austerity attack. Paul Murphy is the Anti-Austerity Alliance candidate in the Dublin South-West by-election. He is a member of the Socialist Party, which will enthusiastically work alongside Anti-Austerity Alliance activists to enable him to win the seat, as did Deputy Coppinger in the Dublin West by-election, thanks to the people there.

Paul Murphy and the Anti-Austerity Alliance stand for a mass campaign to boycott the water charge, an unjust and unfair bankers' and bondholders' tax to continue the bailout. A mass boycott and mass campaign by the ordinary people, not just in Dublin West but the country generally, against this new and unjust imposition can and will force the Government to abolish it. In 1996, a mass campaign of people power and a by-election in Dublin West built on a boycott brought home to the Government of the day, also Fine Gael and the Labour Party, how hated the tax was and forced the Government to abolish it. Other critical issues, such as the housing misery of so many people must be raised. We need a new mass movement of ordinary people to challenge the establishment, the status quoand the underlying causes of austerity. In these by-elections the people can deliver to the Government a serious lesson that will force it to realise what people endure.