Paul Murphy backs Mary-Lou Macdonald, warns against Fianna Fáil pact

I too will vote for Mary-Lou Macdonald for Taoiseach today while voting against Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin and in doing so I am seeking to use my vote to give effect to the desire for radical change expressed at the election before the election we heard from Fine Gael ministers and various commentators about how the political centre was going to hold in Ireland. It didn't hold because the extreme neoliberal centre represented by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and the interests of big business, of landlords and developers who have benefited from the crises facing ordinary people have delivered crises for them. Because they delivered housing crises of an unprecedented scale, health crisis and they drive us towards climate disaster. They've been rejected at the ballot box and they should not try to hold on to power. I ask Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, you have said that the left has won this election, you have said that the left should now implement its programme, then stand aside. You should abstain today and allow an alternative minority government to be formed. People want an end to the cycle of your rule and they want a government that will improve people's lives. Returning the pension age immediately to 65, cutting rents, a rent freeze immediately, increasing the minimum wage, removing restrictions on the rights of workers to organise and to strike. If there is a real prospect of a return of either or both of your parties that will generate real anger and that anger will mobilise on the streets in protest. I'd say to Sinn Féin that you should be under no misunderstanding about the nature of my vote. I think Deputy Macdonald will have the most votes for Taoiseach today because of my vote and the votes of other left-wing TDs. These are not votes to be used to strengthen your hand for negotiations with Fianna Fáil. They are votes for an alternative government excluding Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael. And while voting for Mary Lou Macdonald, I also say to her very clearly that if you form a government with Fianna Fáil, it will represent a betrayal of your voters. That government will not deliver on the change that your voters and our voters want because Fianna Fáil, like Fianna Gael, represent the big business and vested interests that won't allow change. And I will oppose that government. For real change in people's lives, I think that what we need is not just an alternative government but a left government with socialist policies. A programme that prioritises the needs of people and our environment, not the profits of big business. One that would break with reliance on the market in housing, have real rent controls and rent cuts and a massive public house building programme. One that would introduce a national health service taking the private hospitals into the public system. One that would take radical climate action by taking big polluters into democratic public ownership. An alternative government combined with mobilisations on the streets can be an important step towards that change that we need.