Government has ‘utterly failed’ and must be ‘kicked out’, says Paul Murphy

By Luke O'Reilly, PA

The Government has “utterly failed” to address the cost-of-living crisis and must be “kicked out”, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has said.

Mr Murphy said his party will vote against the Government in a confidence motion on Tuesday evening.

He added it was “no surprise” that they had decided to do this.

“This government has utterly failed,” he said.

“They have failed to address the cost-of-living crisis while allowing big energy companies, the big food companies, to profiteer to a massive and gross extent.

“They have completely failed to tackle the ongoing housing crisis, with the result that rents continue to rise at least 10% per year.

“Last week they criminally failed to address the Mica crisis by giving 100% redress and justice to those families and homeowners affected by Mica, going against their own promises, and as a consequence of which they lost the formal Dail majority.”

The coalition has seen its majority slowly eroded over the past few months, finally losing it when Fine Gael TD Joe McHugh resigned the whip over the Government’s controversial Bill to provide redress to home owners in counties affected by defective building blocks.
The loss of Mr McHugh saw the number of Government TDs drop to 79 – one short of a Dail majority.

Sinn Féin tabled the motion, with party president Mary Lou McDonald saying independent TDs face a “big call” on whether they are going to back “bad government” or “stand up and be counted” to secure a change in administration.

In response, the Government is set to table a motion of confidence in itself in the Dáil this evening, confident that it has the numbers to win the vote.

That would supersede the Sinn Féin motion, with the debate and vote held on the Government’s confidence motion instead.

Speaking outside the Dáil on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he would not give a prediction on the final vote margin ahead of the confidence motion, adding that some members had yet to indicate how they will vote.

“I will be hopeful that government will come through this evening because I think the most pressing issue facing government now is a budget, is a cost-of-living package,” he said.

“The week before Sinn Féin were asking for an emergency budget, now they’re asking for a general election. It doesn’t tally, it’s not consistent, and in my view, the focus should be on a budget and a cost of living [package] by the end of September.

“I have a long-standing view that to deliver sustained change and reform, you need governments that go the distance.”

However, Mr Murphy said that people he had spoken to wanted to see the government “kicked out”.

“The people that we speak to, who are being crucified by increasing costs, who see their incomes reduced effectively on a month-by-month basis, who are effectively facing into the prospect of having to choose between heating or eating come winter – those people would like to see no confidence passed in this government,” he said.

“(They) would like to see this government kicked out and would like to see people given a chance to elect a left government, a government that would implement eco-socialist policies, a government that would rule in the interests of ordinary people, renters, ordinary householders, as opposed to ruling in the interests of the corporate landlords.”

He added that the government could be using its powers to implement price controls on petrol, diesel, kerosene, gas, and electricity to bring prices down to a “manageable level” for people.