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In 2020 lets step out of the revolving door of boom bust FF/FG politics - Tóibín

Speaking at the end of 2019 Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín TD stated:


"As 2019 draws to a close and a decade dawns its important to take stock of how far we have come.

"We have done a great thing. In less than a year we have built a new grassroots, people-powered, political movement throughout the country. We held 53 public meetings attracting 9,000 people. We formed 60 cumann and we now have 2,000 members throughout the 32 counties.

 

 



"We contested the local elections north and south, the by-elections in Wexford and Cork and the General Election in the north of Ireland. We received more votes than more established parties such as the Soc Dems, People Before Profit and Independents for Change in the by-elections. We now have 6 excellent elected reps from Wexford to Derry.

"We have launched a number of Bills in Leinster House seeking to protect the income of farmers, ban the provision of online pornography to children and to provide speaking rights to elected reps in the north of Ireland in the Oireachtas.

"We have campaigned on the ground for better health services, for insurance reform, for better public transport, for increased housing supply and for a better environment. We have been the only political party who consistently fights for the right to life for everyone in Irish society.

"We have done this against the tide of the political and media establishment. We have done this will no state funding. All we have achieved so far has been through the efforts and work of our members and supports around the country.

"For all of this we say a massive míle, míle buíochas to all those who have played, and continue to play, their part in buidling and developing Aontú.

"Ireland is emerging from a lost decade. Fiann Fáil and Fine Gael ran our public services, our transport infrastructure and housing stock into the ground through years of cuts and under funding. €60 billion in interest on our National Debt has been paid in the last 10 years.  Yet there is collective amnesia on our ECB bailout refund of €41 billion.

"As a result children are being born into a state of homeless. Many parents are stuck in commuter hell, only seeing their children at the weekends. Families are being squeezed through rack rents and little fixity of tenure. A dazed and confused Minister for Health presides over record health service dysfunction. Beef Farmers earn less than the dole.

"Whether its the National Broadband Plan, the National Children's Hospital, the Leinster House Printer or Dara Murphy, the political establishment is an accountability-free zone. Beef barons, vulture funds and insurance companies are sheltered by the government. Economic and tax exposure increases leaving Ireland wide open to economic shocks.

"Ireland is significantly divided: north-south, east-west, sprawling commuter belt, overheated capital and abandoned rural communities, those with access to housing and health care and those who don't. All the while Mícheál Martin supplies the political blank cheques.

"We must make 2020  a significant year of change where we can step out of the revolving door of boom-bust Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael politics. Fiscal responsibility and social responsibility can be achieved. To make the change we must all play our part."

 

By Aontú Press | 31 December, 2019



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The Irish political system is radically broken



In Ireland the vast majority of elected representatives put a finger in the air to check which way the political wind is blowing. They have one eye on their leaders – seeking brownie points – and another eye keeping their seat safe. If elected reps shut up and do as they’re told, they are promoted; if they stand up for what they believe in, they are demoted. No wonder we have the political class we have. No wonder one point one billion euro is being buried in a hole under the National Children’s Hospital and that Stormont is in stalemate.



Throughout Ireland, many people are now afraid to say what they feel, many are afraid to respectfully engage on a range of different topics. Many feel there is a new censorship and a new political correctness in Ireland, that opposition to the establishment is being deleted.



Respectful opposition is not the enemy. Respectful opposition is a critical element of a functional democracy. Aontú will have the backbone to stand up, without fear, for you.




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