Paul Murphy Urges Left Unity, Blasts Government on Housing

First of all I want to thank all of the people before profit activists who stood for election, who campaigned for our candidates and all those people who voted for us and we plan to use our increased council representation to fight for working class people across this country. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are looking pretty pleased with themselves today. I think you said yourself that you did better in these elections. Pride comes before a fall, Taoiseach. One crucial fact that should be mentioned is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael combined had the lowest percentage vote in the history of the state and local elections. The lowest. Your vote share dropped. You didn't have a better election, you had a worse elections. Your parties are deeply unpopular. Still. And Taoiseach. And Taoiseach. A general election will focus the minds. If a clear left alternative is on offer, if there's a chance to end the rule for 100 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, responsibility for the housing crisis, the health crisis, the lack of action on cost of living, the disgraceful situation facing families with kids with additional needs, I think many people will take that chance. I think a much greater number of people will turn out to do that. We will see. In this election, though, we did see a very cynical attempt by the government to make immigration the central issue to distract from your failures. Almost every week in the run-up to the election, you had new policies of performance of cruelty. I have new figures to show that the government spent almost 100,000 euros in clearing tents and erecting fences at the canal, while there are thousands of empty beds in state-provided accommodation. Announcing cuts to payments for Ukrainian women and children means testing of asylum seekers. It was a trap designed for Sinn Fein and one that they unfortunately fell right into by welcoming each of these measures and saying they would go any further. The truth is that none of these policies will do anything to address the housing crisis, the health crisis or the cost of living crisis. That 100,000 euros would have been much better spent on emergency accommodation for homeless people. But also the truth is that the vast majority of people did not fall for this weapon of mass destruction. The big issues on the doors were the housing crisis, health care, investment in facilities in our communities and so on. And immigration is not the cause of any of those issues. Responsibility lies with the government and an economic system which prioritises profit over people's needs. That poses a challenge now for the left. We need to come together, one, to mobilise on the issue of housing. We need a mass demonstration supported by the trade union movement on housing before the budget because with this government housing is going to continue to get worse and worse and worse because you represent those who profit from the housing crisis, not those who suffer from it. The final thing is there will be a general election. We need a vote left, transfer left, we need a commitment from parties of the left, no coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fianna Gael, no scapegoating of asylum seekers and a commitment to take on those who are benefiting from these crises. And I think then let's allow people to have a choice in the next election. I think if we inspire people with the chance that there is an alternative to Fianna Fáil or Fianna Gael, I think very many people will take that choice. Thank you Deputy. I am not really sure where to start there. There will be a general election in due course. Deputy Murphy, I am really looking forward to it, because there will definitely be alternative political views on offer. I am not sure who is in this left coalition, whether you have Sinn Féin in it or not. Maybe they are not sure themselves either, but they will work it out after they have the review. Every single week this government will bring forward new policies, new ideas and new plans to make progress on some of the issues that are often intractable and difficult. That is what being in government is about. It is about turning up to work every day. It is about working hard. It is about making decisions and delivering for the people. That is what we intend to do. You are beyond wrong when you come to our approach on migration in terms of how you categorise it. One thing I must say I respect you, and I mean this sincerely, is your consistent calling out of racism. I support you when you do this. We have had exchanges in this house, and all of us in this house must continue to call out racism, and all examples of racism. I accept your bona fides in relation to that. However, when it comes to migration, the absolute worst thing for a party of the centre, and I know you might not like parties of the centre, but the absolute worst thing for parties of the centre to do is get off the pitch, is to shirk responsibility and say, that is too difficult an issue, that is too challenging, there is nothing we can do about it. It is not just a global challenge, I am sure, where we just all commentate about it. That is a failure of leadership. The only thing that happens when you allow that vacuum to be created is it gets filled by the far right. I can tell you I am absolutely determined as a politician proudly of the centre and as a Taoiseach of this country to not in any way, shape or form allow others to seek to sow division. What we are going to do in this country is have a functioning migration system that is fair, that has rules, the rules will be applied, they will be applied without fear or favour. We will provide accommodation, shelter for people, safety for people, access to sanitation, but we will not just have a conversation about accommodation because that is not the totality of any country's migration policy. We will also talk about processing times, we will also talk about how the welfare system interacts and how that happens relative to other European countries. We will of course work with the PSNI and others in relation to collaboration because we live in a common travel area and Minister McEntee is doing work in relation to that. We will have deportations for those who do not have a right to be here because that is how, again, any migration system must work. We will continue to invest in integration because this country is the better as a result of immigration. Our health services, our businesses, our shops, our communities, our schools are all the better. This is about having a balanced approach where the compassion of the Irish people is met with the common sense system that works. Let's be honest, if we can in relation to this debate, we are building a migration system in real time because we have gone from around 3,500 people a year coming to this country to over 20,000 people. People are welcome in Ireland. We want to help people who have a right to be here. In order to do that, we need to make sure we have a system that is efficient and effective. Sadly for you, though, I know you will continue to do it for your own reasons. This party is not a nasty party. This government is not a nasty government when it comes to migration. It is one that actually wants to push back against the rhetoric of the extremes, deliver for people and make sure we have a sustainable system. Ishak says his party is not a nasty party. His party has chosen, with Fianna Fáil and the Greens shamefully, to give 100,000 euros to private companies to clear tents, to tents arrive back the next day, to put up fences to block access to our city and to leave people sleeping in tents in our streets. Nobody should be sleeping in a tent in our streets. And it is a cynical policy choice to do so. I make the point again, there are empty beds in the state accommodation system that you are choosing not to use. And why? In my opinion, it is extremely cynical politics. You know that if the central issue in the next general election is housing, if the central issue in the next general election is cost of living, if the central issue in the next general election is the healthcare crisis, they are not winning grounds for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. And so you want to centre the issue of migration and present yourselves as being hard, even though it will not make a single difference. All this cruelty you are doing does not make ordinary people's lives any better whatsoever. But I think the job on our side of the House is to say that very, very clearly. Migrants are not responsible at all for the housing crisis that you have caused. They are not responsible for the housing crisis, they are not responsible for the health crisis. And I think most people, from having this conversation a lot, I certainly will, when you talk to people, actually most people are open to hearing that and can be one to that argument and know that it is your responsibility. And I think they want there to be a real alternative on offer in a few months' time. T-shirt? People decide to present the election results in whatever way since then. All I know is that more people went out and voted for my party than any other party. More people went out and gave Fianna Fáil seats in the local elections than any other party. Many people voted for the Green Party. The people on this side of the House received many mandates in urban Ireland, in rural Ireland, in big towns, big villages. So this idea of reject, mass mobilise, get the government, I am sorry, but it just did not go like that in the last years. And better luck next time. But we will continue to have a multi-agency approach to this issue. We will not tolerate a siloed approach where one organisation says that is a matter for another department. That is a matter for another department. I cannot tolerate that sort of nonsense. The reality of the situation is we were seeing illegal, dangerous, tented villages emerging in parts of this city. We were very near a public health emergency. And I will make no apology for making sure the laws of the land are upheld and making sure people are inhumanity. You cannot just erect a tent wherever you want and start blockading streets. You can't do that. I know that is your politics. It is not what this government will stand over. We will provide people with shelter, with sanitation. And as a result of our work, Minister O'Gorman has provided hundreds of more people with access to safe accommodation. Safe accommodation of no solutions. It is not a problem. Hold on that well. But it is修辨 as a task of away. I cannot find these foods here to the people around the world. We live with shelter so we are certainly not used to be safe from the world. I cannot find out even the living position. In the 2013 душ of no body, we receive there needs to be safe from the formatting. And be careful people over the world, while the feeling of health and offering everything presented to you, I cannot be해주 devoir into do the benchmark of because we follow the relatively normal projects and therefore do not allowing you. I cannot wait to look at theoullicon so on. Trouして the world where the church guide is not willing to bring it to work. I have aernуй chase. And I find out to In turn, I have left the people.