Well paid public reps in SDLP and SF should not be afraid of public debate

Well paid public reps in SDLP and SF should not be afraid of public debate – Tóibín

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD has contacted Michelle O’Neill, Colum Eastwood and their parties on three separate occasions seeking a public debate on the Stormont shutdown, rising food, housing & health poverty in the north, Brexit and Irish Unity.

According to the Aontú leader; “these are serious issues. Both political parties claim to oppose the Stormont shutdown. Both claim to be the voice of the poor and disadvantaged in the north and both claim to seek Irish Unity. However both party leaders have remained silent and refused to respond to 3 requests to debate these issues in public”.

“I appreciate that Aontú is a new political party and the establishment Nationalist parties may not want their political cartel disrupted. However these issues are far too important to depend on the narrow strategic interests of political parties. There should be nothing to be feared from honest political debate on objectives we should all share. No political party should be immune from challenge on these core values. Well paid public reps should not refuse to debate these serious issues in public”.

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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.