This is just a cosy carve-up of power ... but SF will lead way in Opposition
THE mandate Sinn Féin received from the public four months ago has forced Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to do what any thought was unthinkable – to put century-old Civil War politics behind them and come together as one.
What people are about to see is that there was never any difference between these two parties in the first place.
While the mandate for the change has been locked out by the status quo this time around, they won’t keep the door shut forever.
The future is still up for grabs. It will forever be worth fighting for.
This cosy carve-up of power will only serve to increase that appetite to do better.
Leading the Opposition for the first time in the history of the State, Sinn Féin will stand up for people and drive that message home.
The people of this State delivered a clear message to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that they have grown tired of the politics of old.
Instead of accepting the will of the people, the establishment parties have come together to thwart the change people have voted for. They can delay change, but they can’t stop it.
People turned to Sinn Féin and other parties of change for a reason.
They voted for affordable housing, for a public health service, for an economy that works for them, for childcare that doesn’t break the bank, for a State pension age that is decent and reflects our values.
Half a million people voted for Sinn Féin to be the voice that stands up for them in Leinster House. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael clubbed together to silence them.
As elected representatives, we can take Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s decision to exclude us on the chin.
Inequality
But beware of the risen people. The public will see this arrangement between the old guard and the Green Party for what it is. It is a deal to kick change into touch.
But it doesn’t have to be Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s way.
And leading Opposition, Sinn Féin will prove that.
The days of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael having it all their own way are behind us.
The realignment of Irish politics has begun. This is only the start.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, inequality in society risks being widened further by this carve-up of power.
In times of crisis, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have let you the people of this State down time and time again.
The public will be weary that we are back to square one again.
They are right to be concerned about this, but they should not grow disheartened.
I haven’t given up on a better Ireland, and they shouldn’t either.
We know the priorities of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
But it doesn’t have to be like that.
There is a better way and when the time comes, Sinn Féin will step up to the plate.
Since February, all of our lives have been changed in ways which we thought unimaginable.
But the Covid-19 pandemic has not dampened the public’s desire for change.
If anything, this crisis has strengthened it.
The pandemic has held a magnifying glass up to the chronic unfairness visited on ordinary people by successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments.
The essential workers who have been rightly lauded during the pandemic are in fact the workers who are subjected to low pay and poor working conditions, such as our nurses and childcare workers.
During this crisis, we have seen how our homes truly are our sanctuaries.
But far too many of our people do not have a sanctuary that is secure because our housing system is broken.
Housing simply is not affordable to your average worker, let alone the lowly paid.
This did not happen by accident. It is the result of decades of failed policies from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
No lip service will change the old guard’s ingrained ideologies that put the captains of industry first ahead of the collective well-being of people.
Similarly, the problems that have undermined a workable childcare plan during this crisis exist because Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are wedded to a model that has utterly failed children, parents and childcare workers.
The ‘new’ government has not even been formed and already the signs of the old politics are slipping through.
As we begin the work of economic recovery, we must ensure that the recovery is fair and that there is no return to the austerity that robbed us of an entire decade after the bank bailout.
Betterment
We cannot lose another ten years to policies that are about protecting those at the top, to the detriment of everybody else.
Ordinary workers and families should not be the ones to shoulder the pain of the economic crisis.
And Sinn Féin in Opposition will bring the voices and the lived experiences of the people we represent to the Dáil Chamber at every turn.
We believe in the betterment of society.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael can delay that will, but they won’t stop it forever.
The future, and who gets to shape it, depends on your refusal to let go of your belief in fairness, in community, in social justice and in unity.
The men, women and children of Ireland deserve better than this would-be government.
And in Opposition, Sinn Féin will prove there is a fairer way.