Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West Se\u00e1n Crowe has described the so-called \u201cGrand Coalition\u201d of Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael as \u201clogical since there is really not much in terms of policy that separate them\u201d, but said the prospect of \u201cmore of the same will not impress many of those voters who voted for change\u201d.<\/p>\n
Crowe said the document released by Fine Gael and Fianna F\u00e1il was little more than \u201cspin and waffle\u201d which had all the indications of the previous governments\u2019 approach of being \u201clong on promises, short on ambition, and missing vital delivery timescales\u201d.<\/p>\n
Teachta Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who rejected and voted out the last government did not vote for more of the same. The election was roundly praised as being a vote for change, a change from the old, stale way of doing business that left far too many people behind. A departure from the ideology of the past which fostered inequality and deprivation, a rejection of the policy of looking after the interest of an elite few, with the burden of cost being carried by ordinary taxpayers<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving had a good read of this document, it amazes me to see the sheer lack of ambition or vision.<\/p>\n
\u201cFianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael cannot even promise to eliminate family homelessness, they say in this document that they would simply \u2018prioritise its reduction\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe COVID-19 crisis has shown us that the previous refusals to invest in health and housing can create untold problems when an unexpected challenge occurs. While the response of the health service and of healthcare professionals has been nothing short of inspiring, they were forced from start to be on the back foot when the virus came to our shores, under-resourced, lacking key staff, insufficient ICU and hospital beds, and largely without vital personal protection equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cFront-line staff responded to Ireland’s call, putting their lives at risk, while going without even the most basic protection equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a smack of arrogance to this document. Central to its approach is the belief that all Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael have to do is publish their document and the smaller parties will come running to their banner.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everyone enters politics for power or personal ambition and this may confuse some from the establishment parties where that sadly has become the norm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis document is a framework for more of the same. It is a document that represents everything that people came out in their droves to vote against last February.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy trying to exclude Sinn F\u00e9in from any negotiations, the old boys club or \u2018Grand Coalition Partners\u2019 have proven that they are terrified of change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt proves they want nothing more than to hold their grip on power continuing to exclude and deliver for the wealthy, the golden circle in Irish society, while ordinary people struggle to access housing, healthcare, childcare, and a decent standard of living.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis \u2018Grand Coalition\u2019 may have never happened before, but it won\u2019t impress many of my constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West Se\u00e1n Crowe has described the so-called \u201cGrand Coalition\u201d of Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael as \u201clogical since there is really not much in terms of policy that separate them\u201d, but said the prospect of \u201cmore of the same will not impress many of those voters who voted for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4111"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4114,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions\/4114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}