Sharon Keogan criticises government, urges vote for independents
Senator Sharon Keogan addressed the chamber on 7 November 2024, sharply criticising the government's record on public services, borders, housing and public safety and urging voters to support independent candidates. She argued the government "failed in so many ways" during its term and asked the electorate to back pragmatic, courageous independents at the election on 29 November.
Main criticisms
Keogan listed broad failures she attributes to the government across the term, saying it allowed the elderly to die alone during COVID and did not protect vulnerable people. She accused the administration of failing to keep communities and businesses safe and of letting public services and the prison system fall short.
Migration and housing pressures
She said the failure to secure borders had led to "almost 350 000 extra people in our country whether seeking Ukrainian protection, international protection, work permits short-term or long-term educational visas," and challenged where the government thought they would be housed. Keogan also cited an increase of about 5 000 people on the homeless lists as part of the housing crisis.
Public services and social supports
Keogan warned hospitals were at capacity and said the State was failing to retain educated people, citing concerns for children with scoliosis and disabilities. She highlighted recruitment shortfalls for gardaí and a prison service she said did not ensure that "crime does not pay," and described pressure on work-life balance and the cost of living.
Electoral appeal and acknowledgements
She urged voters to choose "pragmatic courageous independent candidates with a proven track record in local government," arguing independence has already made a difference in the chamber and asking the electorate to vote independent on 29 November. Keogan opened and closed with expressions of gratitude, thanking staff in the Shannon office and the Oireachtas, colleagues including Victor Boyan, Michael McDowell, Jerry Crockwell and Tom Clonan, and her own office staff Granja, Sarah, Robert, Caroline and Vanney.
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thank you it's great to see you in the chair today and hopefully you'll be in that chair the next time as well so i want to start off by thanking martin and all the staff in the shannon office and all the staff here in the oireachtas the bills office the research office all the ushers and all those that look after us daily whether it be in the restaurant or um just in the in these houses in general i want to thank my colleagues uh our leader uh victor boyan and michael mcdowell jerry crockwell and tom clonan and i want to thank my staff here and granja and sarah and robert and caroline and vanney in my office interleague it's a massive privilege to be elected into these houses and and i want to thank my colleagues in local government and my nominees for giving me this enormous opportunity but as we look ahead towards another election i trust the electorate will make the right decisions on the 29th of november they listened to a few of us in march of this year where a few independent senators guided and empowered the electorate to know the truth about the question that was laid out before them i would ask that the trust is again i fear what another doll term would be like with the existing three-party coalition it has never been more important to vote and the stakes could not be higher than in this election during this government term we have failed in so many ways we failed in covert we allowed our elderly to die alone we failed to secure our borders and this has resulted in almost 350 000 extra people in our country whether seeking ukrainian protection international protection work permits short-term or long-term educational visas where did this government think they were going to house them let's not talk about the 5 000 extra that are homeless are on our homeless under this government our hospitals are our capacity we educate our best and we cannot keep them here we have failed the most vulnerable our children scoliosis our children with disabilities we have failed to keep people safe in our communities and in our businesses we have failed to recruit enough guardi and we failed to provide a prison service to ensure that crime does not pay we are working harder spending more just to live the work-life balance rarely exists for so many but the irish are resilient we proved that after our celtic tiger crash we would stand a lot and this government has let us all down i mean look at our children there today that is what we need to be looking at looking at our future we can do better and we can deliver a better ireland we come we would ask you to vote this year for pragmatic courageous independent candidates with a proven track record in local government independence can shake it up we have proven it in this house so i would ask the electorate out there to this time to vote independent thank you thank you thank you senator
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