Mairéad Farrell addresses the Dáil, criticising the government's response to recent protests in Galway and accusing ministers of ignoring the voices of ordinary people. She says representatives were shut out, the message from the streets was clear, and the government has failed to listen or act.
Main charge: Government ignored protesters
Mairéad Farrell argues that people left homes, families and livelihoods to protest and demand change, yet the Dáil has continued to speak past them. She singles out the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Justice for statements that, she says, reveal contempt and distance from everyday realities.
Galway protests and representation
Farrell highlights the events in Galway and expresses dismay that Galway representatives were locked out of a meeting. She says that many Galwegians - those who attended protests and those who supported them from afar - are saying it is time for this government to go.
Failing to listen and act
The speech accuses the government of refusing to talk, engage or represent people in the way they demanded. Farrell describes the response from ministers as doubling down, while the people spoke loudly and clearly that they have no confidence in the government.
Political consequence
Farrell frames the episode as a test of accountability and responsiveness: she says the Dáil has not absorbed the clarity coming from the streets, and that the public knows whose side ministers are on. The address ends as a stark rebuke of perceived arrogance and disregard for ordinary working people's struggles.
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People talk to the streets in a way that we haven't seen before. People left their homes, they left their families, they left their livelihoods to stand up for themselves and for their communities, demanding a better Ireland and how dare ye ignore the people again here today. Ye talk about Sinn Féin but you don't talk about the people. It was the people that went out and said enough is enough. It was the people who had to take to the streets to demand action and it was the people who said they have no confidence in yas. But not one of you here spoke to the people here today. Instead you spoke to and about yourselves. You have in no way heard the message that came from the people of Ireland, a message that they couldn't have given yas any louder or any clearer. I had thought that coming in here today that maybe a little bit of humble pie had been eaten after the arrogance of last week. But no, I was completely mistaken. Nothing has changed. Because of course all of this happened because you refused to talk, you refused to engage, you refused to listen and you refused to act. You refused to represent the people like they demanded that you represent them. When I thought about your disastrous response last week I thought it couldn't get any worse. But the fact that you locked Galway representatives out of a meeting is absolutely shameful. Do you even realise how disrespectful that was? Do you understand the blind arrogance that you showed? It was like something out of a schoolyard. You were saying well I'll talk to those but I won't talk to them. It was absolutely and utterly unbelievable. Now I spoke to people in Galway, I spoke to people who were at the protests and I spoke to other Galwegians who weren't at the protests but who were vehemently supportive of the demands of the protesters and all of those people said to me that it is time for this government to go. A government so immune to the realities of its people. And having spent time on these protests in Galway I had perhaps thought there may be a sense of clarity would have descended on this Dáil, a sense of clarity that the people had. But obviously this hasn't happened. You have doubled down. You have spent your time during this debate with your chests out and beating the same old drum of how great you are. But the people are wise to you. They know exactly what you're at. They heard the words of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Justice last week. Words which showed how out of touch you are with the realities of people's lives. The contempt you show for the realities of people's lives and you've shown a lack of awareness to the struggles of ordinary working people, these struggles that they face on a daily basis. But I tell you now, the people know whose side you're on and they know that you're not on their side.
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