Seanad debates
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
2:00 am
Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source
I am wondering today about the woman who is in a queue in some consultant's room awaiting a diagnosis which tells her she has breast cancer, or that her child, husband or brother has cancer. I also wonder about the mother who is at home today with an autistic child who cannot get a place in school, or the young couple who have had their dreams dashed to the ground because they will never see a home. In this Oireachtas, the Dáil has been in session for 62 days and all we can do is argue over eight God-damn minutes. Is it not time we started to be honest and realistic about what is going on? Any one of the political parties in this Oireachtas, irrespective of who they are, would, if they were in government, suck up the Whip and vote through whatever has to be voted through.
Democracy is about the majority. That is what we pay for. That is what we get. It has been the way this organisation has worked since time immemorial and we have this charade going on. I do not care which side is right and which side is wrong. People are out there looking in at us. As a former teacher I would have given detention to the whole God-damn lot yesterday and made them stay until they sorted it out. Now there is going to be an attack on the Ceann Comhairle. This is the first female Ceann Comhairle in the history of the State and they are rounding on her. Where are they all now? Obviously, they are all in their party rooms preparing the next attack and to see to where that will go. Is it all about taking the blood of a colleague in one way or other? Is that what it is about? Is that what we are here for? I have seen Members of this House come in here today and argue reasonable things for real concerns within the areas in which they live, and that is what people pay us to do.
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