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MICHEÁL MARTIN HAS described Mary Lou McDonald’s speech at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis last night as “extraordinarily arrogant”.
The Fianna Fáil leader said this afternoon that the election of TDs does not give any party “an entitlement to government” and that this must be earned.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, Martin said that he did tune in to McDonald’s address yesterday evening.
“I did watch the speech last night, I think it was a flat speech, I think there was an absence of substance,” Martin said.
There was no radical proposals or solutions contained within the speech. And there was a sense of entitlement that somehow Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael owed Sinn Féin power.
“There is this sense from Sinn Féin and Fine Gael that they’re all talking about power, getting in to power. And not focusing on the key issues and challenges facing the people of the country,” Martin claimed.
In her Ard Fheis speech last night, McDonald criticised both Martin and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, accusing them of seeking to “exclude” Sinn Féin from governing in the south.
“I invite them to wake up and smell the coffee. To realise that Irish political life is no longer dictated by them, it is no longer their way or the highway,” McDonald said.
We are here, we are equal. Our democratic mandate and more importantly the people who vote for Sinn Féin will be respected. It is not for Leo Varadkar or Micheál Martin to decide whether or not we enter government. That decision will be made, in the first instance by the people.
In response to that namecheck today, Martin said that winning seats does not mean a party deserves to be in government. He added that the “serious issues” he has with Sinn Féin have not dissipated since McDonald became leader.
“Every party that gets elected and the people who vote for them, their votes will be validated in terms of the composition of the next Dáil. It doesn’t give any party an entitlement to government. You have to earn that and you have to work with other parties.”
“I certainly think it’s an extraordinarily arrogant proposition from Mary Lou that somehow someone owes Sinn Féin government. We don’t,” Martin said.
Just because you change the podium, doesn’t mean you change the party, or the substance of the party. And I’ve made it very clear from the outset that we have very clear and serious issues with Sinn Féin as a political party.
There had been suggestion during this week that Sinn Féin was planning to table a motion of no confidence in Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, but the party decided against it.
Such a motion would put strain on the confidence and supply agreement between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil which is underpinning Varadkar’s minority government.
Asked about this, Martin was critical about what he said was the “hype and credibility” surrounding talking of the no confidence motion.
“This is a week when we’ve had record waiting lists, people waiting for outpatient appointments, record levels of homelessness and children in hotel rooms. That’s where the focus should be for all politicians in Leinster House right now, and not on this sort of phoney talk of an election and attempts to manufacture an election by both Fine Gael and Sinn Féin.”
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I’ve said many times, will keep saying it: corporations like Meta are NOT your friend in any way.
@Daniel Skelton: I don’t think anyone ever has thought of a corporation as their friend… When was the last time you went for a coffee with a corporation?
@Kev Barnes: True, but I consider ones like Meta to be the lowest of the low. You can’t get any lower than them.
@Kev Barnes: you’ve never seen someone scrolling of Facebook in a café?
@Daniel Skelton: good man Daniel does that mean other corporates are?
@Daniel Skelton: TikTok is even lower than meta is it has been created specially to make our youth dumber.
It should be 100% banned.
@mani mus: I have.. But that doesn’t make your phone your friend
@Kev Barnes: Our leaders do it all the time.
@Kev Barnes: Badum-tsshh
You should be over the age of 18 to own a smart phone. They are one of the greatest scourges to enter society and I’m not being over dramatic when I say that. They allow bullying of kids to continue at all times, they give kids incorrect perceptions of their image and create very harmful addictions.
It is frightening how many parents give kids as young as 6 or 7 unfiltered access to some of the worst aspects of society.
No access, no problem.
If you think your child needs a phone to contact you, then buy a non-smartphone.
But an entire ban would take peer pressure out of the equation.
Ban the sale of advertising on the internet and this problem will vanish.
All the social media companies depend on advertising and use addictive interfaces to drive up “engagement” and numbers so that they can charge more for advertising.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: Good idea, would go further and ban data minning too.
@Thesaltyurchin: Harder to define but yes indeed.
You could probably add some adults to that as well.
@Jb Walshe: like you?
There should be a new poll…Do Irish judges attend Andrew Tate seminars? To give a man a clap on the back for attacking a women that he admitted to….the wheel is rolling backwards.
An outright ban is needed until 18 years of age. Also social media should not allow the posting of so called news links or any links of that matter. It used to be about photos, sharing of nights out and socialising and sharing memories.. Politics, Screwing with our children’s minds was not part of it.. or screwing with adults minds for that matter.
@Roman Walczak Sadlowski: Outright ban wont solve anything. The social media companies, specifically X, Meta and Snap need to ensure anonymous accounts are not possible. If you want a social media account you need to provide proof of identification. As soon as all these cowards online hiding behind their keyboard know there is attribution behind every one of their posts it will stop overnight. Literally within 24 hours harrassment, doxxing, bullying, far-right nonsense, fake news and video posts etc will cease.
Society is doing a bang up job of doing the damage already without social media. The current and next generation will have some mess to clean up from the damage thats been done and I dont evny them.
But not quite as much as the current government are.
It’s so sad to see a group of teenage friends together just looking at their phones….no messing about, talking, slagging or laughter. My teen years in the early 90s were spent talking with friends and others my age, about everything and nothing, getting bored, slagging each other off, arguing and making up again…walking for hours or sitting around.
No child under 13 needs a phone. As a parent it is hard, but you have to lay down the law and say
No. My 12 year old has no phone, as I have told him his friends all live in our estate, he can walk over to them if he needs to talk.
Just behind substance abuse
@Argus Romsworth: Reckon if you count the profits (lets no pretend that anything else matters here) that tech bros are making way more than the narcos.
Not a hope of any action here. Money and profit is what our society value, child/people’s welfare are only considered if it doesn’t affect the bottom line. Have you not scene all the betting companies concern for problem gambling . If your winning your account is restricted, if your losing, bet away.
They are very addictive. An addiction is only bad news.
@JP: Facebook was designed by psychologists to be addictive, that’s the main reason it crushed Bebo, MySpace etc.
Most of the most mentally unstable people i see on social media these days are 40+. The ones harrassing td’s and guards and librarians and such.
Least we forget, THIS is a social media space.
You can say ‘ban smartphones’ until you’re blue in the face – gen z (hope I got that right) life revolves around social platforms – I had an argument with a friend back in 2018 about the detrimental effects this behaviour would have as I had been reading articles on it – basically they stated that the young ones wouldn’t know how to adapt to social situations, that they wouldn’t be able to decipher facial expressions, body language.
It’s not just about the bullying aspect, it reaches far deeper. Images on social media are heavily filtered and, especially for girls, can make them feel insecure and lack confidence in comparison to what they see on screen.
It was hard enough for me growing up, I was bullied but it was in person, was dealt with, the end. Online is endless.
Stop bullying kids by dumping anxiety on them.
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/kids-guide-to-climate-change/
The June Solstice happens today, and the Green party, rather than run with experimental theorists who imagine climate is one thing as long-term weather, teaches students that Ireland has a maritime climate as one topic among many within the Earth science of climate.
I never mind those who try to throw their weight around in the comments as though this is a schoolyard. I need adults in the room and in the Journal.
@Gerald Kelleher: Nooooo! The winters coming
@Gerald Kelleher: they left out the elnino effect in the climate change guide.
@Gerald Kelleher: I really wish researchers in social science hadn’t started using the term “climate anxiety” when surveying young people. Psychologists don’t want that term used. The vast majority of young people and children who report concerns about climate change in these studies do not have anxiety. Anxiety is complicated and it is generally rooted in the child’s early childhood experiences and the attachment styles of those who care for them. You could stop telling children that carbon emissions trap radiation tomorrow and I doubt it would have any impact on the numbers of children being treated for anxiety. I don’t care about the models. There are many excellent reasons to clean up our act and pursue renewable energy resources that don’t require you to buy into global warming. Young people are rightfully concerned about how human actions are impacting our environment. They aren’t mad, we are polluting the planet at a rate that can’t possibly be good, we have volumes of hard evidence demonstrating the mounting negative consequences to humans (children in particular) and we should stop.
@Sill Scoundrel: At last, a reasonable person even if climate research covers many topics.
The environmental party should protect society from academics looking for funding while supplying hysteria.
I absolutely love social media
Not as big a threat as the scary wary pilots!
have your say