An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-14
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Maria McCormack (SF), Labour Panel

There is an interesting contrast between the Government Members in this House and what is going on in the Dáil. I was listening before I came in here. I commend them on speaking out and saying that the Government got it wrong because it really got it wrong. The vote of no confidence that is being debated in the Dáil at the moment is as a result of people crying out for help. This not just about protests - and I will speak about the people I stood with in County Laois for six days - but this is an accumulation of people's sheer frustration that has been building in this country for a long time before Trump ever attacked Iran. This is about the cost-of-living crisis that the Government was failing to recognise, the housing crisis, homeless numbers rising, a health service under constant pressure with 900,000 people on hospital waiting lists and thousands of young people leaving the country every year. This is why it came to a no confidence vote. This is why four different people sent me thousands of signatures on petitions asking us to bring forward a vote of no confidence in this Government. It is because people are not happy.
In the meantime, the Government wastes so much of taxpayers' money. Some €2.4 billion has been spent on a children's hospital that is still not finished and is heading into its 19th completion date. A total of €750,000 was spent on 14 steps around the corner in Dublin - golden steps for golden circles - €350,000 on a bike shed that is an absolute shambles; €1 million on a printer that did not even fit and another €7 million on a path in Cork. Come on, lads, the people are all seeing these things and they are asking how the Government is always able to waste taxpayers' money and there is never enough for ordinary people who are paying their taxes and getting little in return. We have a National Ambulance Service strike coming soon. The service is on the brink of not coping. Families are struggling. Disability advocacy groups, who are outside Leinster House day in and day out, are telling us that people are choosing heating over eating. Workers are stretched to the limit and then fuel prices rise. This is why people took to protesting. They have had enough. However, instead of listening, what did this Government do? It ignored the protestors and then threatened them. It threatened to bring the Army on the protestors. It was pure arrogance. The statements we have heard in the Dáil today are not acceptable as is the way the Government talks about these ordinary men and women that have stood day and night. Our communities have supported them. They have not blocked anything. Their communities have come out and rallied behind them. I fully support them and think that every TD should vote no confidence in this Government because it has totally lost the faith of the people.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-14