We stand on a precipice. The world is burning and the barbarians are at the gate. We face multiple existential crises. We have instability in the Middle East, war in Ukraine and climate change. Trade wars will start tomorrow, with tariffs posing threats to the global economy.
Sentiment score: -0.27
Tomorrow, we will see the threats becoming real. In this House, we watched aghast as Boris Johnson and the Brexiteers prorogued parliament, when they suspended the people's assembly, denying that parliamentary procedure could take place. We watched in horror on 6 January 2021 when the Capitol rioters stormed Washington DC to stop the election results being ratified. We never thought we would see it in this House. We never thought we would see it in our own democracy. How apt it is that, on April Fools' Day, the people who say they want to have a serious debate waste yet another opportunity by spending an afternoon dealing with this sort of farce when serious issues consume us.
Sentiment score: -0.44
We are talking about eight minutes of speaking time.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Across the floor, we see three groups. We see the "Shout 'em down Shinners", yet again agitating, barracking anybody or anything that stands in their way. I fundamentally believe they cannot accept the outcome of the election. They could not accept the outcome of the one before that either-----
Sentiment score: -0.25
-----because, in 2020, they went on a world tour proclaiming that they had actually won the election despite the fact that they did not command a majority of the House. They lost the next election in 2024. The "most effective Opposition history the State" - it was certainly the most hyped Opposition history of State - also had the greatest drop in support in the history the State of any Opposition party when it fell by 5.5 percentage points, the greatest in half a century.
Sentiment score: 0.40
We move on to Sinn Féin's junior partners on the benches beside it and we will look at the Labour Party-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----which is once again in thrall to a militant tendency that has retaken the Labour Party,-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----a party that was rooted in principle but ran away from government. At the first opportunity before an RTÉ microphone when the last votes were still being counted, the Labour Party declared it wanted nothing to do with government.
Sentiment score: 0.44
What is the point in going before the people with the manifesto if you have no interest in implementing it?
Sentiment score: 0.20
Then we have the "Social Media Democrats". As its own recently resigned member-----
Sentiment score: -0.12
As its own recently resigned member, David McGinn, said recently, it is a fundamentally unserious party. Those are not my words, but his. This is a serious crisis and we need serious players. The Government provides that seriousness.
Sentiment score: -0.14
That is why the Deputy is in opposition.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Ag insint bréag.
Sentiment score: 0.00