Results 21-40 of 19,166 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: I will finish on this. Here is what I know for sure and without a shadow of a doubt. A Government led by Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael will never allow that fair and equal Ireland to be born.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: They have shown us that time and again. Workers and families deserve better and now is the moment for change.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Taoiseach's time is up. The people have had enough. He and his Ministers must go and make way-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----for a new Government that will roll up their sleeves, get the job done with energy, with creativity, and create that stronger, fairer Ireland.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is one designed to prop up extortionate house prices and to saddle people with additional debt, and the Taoiseach boasts that people in desperation will reach for that measure. That is nauseating. The scourge of homelessness is back to record levels. People in families who never thought that they would ever be in such an horrific situation find themselves in emergency accommodation,...

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: Let me suggest that the Minister be at the front of the queue when this Government packs its bags to go. It is time now for a housing Minister who will implement policies that turn the tide with a housing strategy that really matches the scale of the challenge because housing can be fixed. There is no doubt about that-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----but it will require a new Government with the right priorities-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----making the right choices. Simply put, we need a government that builds public homes on public land at a massive scale and these must be homes-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----that ordinary people can afford to rent or buy.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: Strike two against this failed Government relates to health. Under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, so many are denied the medical care that they badly need. Our hospitals are chronically overcrowded and we have a never-ending trolley crisis. Waiting lists have ballooned to record levels. Children with conditions, such as scoliosis or spina bifida, wait years for life-changing surgery....

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Government will instead wait for 12 weeks before intervening. Ministers are quick to homilise and to tell those of us in opposition that we do not have a monopoly on empathy for people who are suffering.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: I agree with that, but a government does not get to stop at empathy. The Government does not get to empathise and then do nothing for people who are overwhelmed by a cost-of-living crisis, the likes of which we have not seen since the 1980s. It is the responsibility of Government to act because empathy without help or action is pity. Workers and families do not want the pity of Government;...

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: I speak directly to the Independent Deputies whose support keeps this week an ineffective Government in power. We have all had ringside seats to witness the repeated incompetence of this coalition. These parties have failed the people of the Independent Deputies' constituencies and all they get from them are shrugs of the shoulders, excuses, alibis and heckling - they are good at that. Let...

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: With their eyes wide open, that is the question each of the Independent Deputies will answer with his or her vote today.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: Two years ago, people voted for change in massive numbers.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: They voted for a new direction, for a fresh start and for a better future. Workers and families backed Sinn Féin and others who promised change-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is a 15-minute slot. Sinn Féin tabled its motion of no confidence in the Government opposite because we believe that change is needed now more than ever. The Government in those benches is out of touch, clearly out of ideas and now out of time - a Government that is unravelling before our very eyes, which has lost the support of the people, if indeed it ever had it. Last week it...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: As was recognised at the World Economic Forum, the world is facing an unprecedented energy crisis. In reality, we have yet to experience the full impact of Russia's entrenched aggression against Ukraine on Europe's energy supply. Collectively, we face a massive challenge to counter climate change, forge a new path in energy production and secure a cleaner future for our island. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: 20. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the World Economic Forum. [29327/22]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (12 Jul 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: 15. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the investigation being carried out by the Secretary General of his Department into the leaking of details of the mother and baby homes commission of investigation. [25802/22]