Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has criticised what he said is the Government's "dysfunction, incompetence, lack of accountability and refusal to listen to the people", in a keynote speech at his party's Ard Fheis.
Speaking at the City North Hotel in Co Meath this evening, Deputy Tóibín said while Ireland is "a great country", he believes it has been "cursed with incompetent political leadership".
Mirroring similar views expressed by party colleagues throughout today's ard fheis, he said he believes this situation can be seen in Government spending controversies, immigration policies and the outcome of last year's referendums.
Deputy Tóibín told the audience that "in practically every area of infrastructure and public delivery systems are grinding to a halt".
He said this is issue has been highlighted again this week by the National Children's Hospital, which he said former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar previously said "would be built for €700m by 2020 save an asteroid hitting the planet".
Deputy Tóibín said that, five years on, there is still no asteroid and no children's hospital, which is now expected to cost more than €2.3bn.
"The opening date has been postponed 15 times and there is no definite opening day," he said.
He laid some of the blame at the feet of Tánaiste Simon Harris, who was minister for health when the construction contract was signed.
"When I challenged him on this, live on television, before the general election, Simon denied it outright.
How can Simon 'it wasn't me’ Harris enforce a culture of accountability in the civil service if he himself is an accountability free zone," Deputy Tóibín said.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóbín says families across the country are being "poorly served" by the Government
'Incinerating your money'
The Aontú leader said this situation is in his view repeated elsewhere, saying other costs include; "€300m has been spent on Metro North and not a shovel put in the ground, €100m for a cyber attack the Government did not protect against, and €22m on [Covid-19] ventilators that never worked".
He continued that there was also "€120,000 for a scanner the national gallery never used, €808,000 for a Dáil printer that could not fit in the building, and of course €336,000 for the 'Gucci' bike shed.
"Government incompetence is incinerating your money, and slowing key projects to a halt."
He said if new rules must now be introduced to allow civil servants directly responsible for such financial problems to be fired.
Deputy Tóibín continued by saying that immigration is also a significant policy for Aontú.
He said while "we should try to help those fleeing war and violence and the colour of a person's skin is of no more significance than the colour of their eyes", he believes there is a need for "an open, respectful conversation about immigration".
He said that six years ago he argued that not doing so would "push the discussion underground where it will be harvested and manipulated by bad actors for their own purposes", a situation he said "is exactly what happened".
Deputy Tóibín said that in his view "the Government's immigration policy has been chaotic and has damaged the cohesion of this country".
He said he believes "the Government doesn't know what's happened", saying his party wants to "lower the numbers coming to Ireland by making the asylum application process stricter, faster and more robust".
"All those who fail [in asylum seeker applications] must be returned home," he said.
Deputy Tóibín also used his key note speech to raise concerns around the health service in Ireland.
He said "hundreds of children languish in excruciating pain on scoliosis lists for the lack of surgery", and that hundreds of others "have been put through possibly damaging and painful unneeded hip surgery".
He said health service concerns are also apparent in the controversy over the assessment of need for children issue, noting that this week the "inspirational" 14-year-old Tipperary campaign Cara Darmody again shone a spotlight on the matter.
'Not listening'
Deputy Tóibín used his speech to raise a number of other subjects, including housing concerns and called for action on the situation in Gaza.
However, he also gave a significant amount of time to what he said is "one of the big problems in Irish democracy - the political establishment not listening to the people".
Citing last year's two referendums which were rejected by the public as "a prime example", Deputy Tóibín said "last year the Government spent €23m in the families and carers referendums while refusing to get rid of the means test for carers allowance".
"We saw that the damage to carers and people with disabilities. We oppose the government policy of deleting women from legislation.
"We listened to the people and stood up for what we believed in," he said.
Deputy Tóibín concluded his speech by saying while Aontú "is a relatively new political party" it is "very different" from what he described as "the political establishment".
He finished by referencing one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, Thomas MacDonagh, by saying in his last address before his execution said of the proclamation: "You think it's already a dead and buried letter, but it lives, it lives.
"From minds alight with Ireland’s vivid intellect, it sprang; in hearts aflame with Ireland’s mighty love it was conceived. Such documents do not die.
"The Proclamation is our manifesto."
Aontú votes for ban on people 'purposefully' destroying travel documents
Aontú party members voted in favour of banning any individual who has "purposefully destroyed their travel documents" from entering Ireland among a number of other immigration measures.
Party delegates voted on the measure by a show of hands during a session on the international protection system, during which they also voted for a ban on "the introduction of Sharia law" or "community courts of any religion" in this country.
The travel documents motion was tabled by Aontú's Wicklow cumann, which read: "The ard fheis calls on Government to outright ban entry to the State to any person who has purposefully destroyed their travel documents before they have come to Ireland, by enforcing a total ban at all ports, airports and entry to the State".
The separate Sharia law motion, which was tabled by the Dublin South Central cumann, read: "This ard fheis opposes the introduction of Sharia law as the law of the land into Ireland, and believes that no community courts of any religion should be allowed to deny anyone access to their civil and legal rights.
"We demand that the rights of women, children, and vulnerable groups such as gay people are protected."
Other motions passed were those calling for the number of people coming to Ireland to be limited until the housing crisis is brought under control.
Aontú votes for Ireland to withdraw from EU migration pact
In addition, Aontú delegates voted for Ireland to withdraw from the EU migration pact, for asylum seekers to "respect our democracy and laws" and for the PPS numbers of returning Irish citizens to be re-activated at "the same time scale available to migrants".
However, a motion to prevent any "non-Irish citizen" from entering this country if they have a criminal conviction was opposed, as it was unclear how wide a definition of criminal conviction was intended.
Speaking during the international protection system session, Aontú councillor for Meath East Emer Tóibín said "we know it [the system] is not sustainable".
Cllr Tóibín asked "how many" of the people coming to Ireland "qualify to be here?", saying there is "no long-term plan".
Referencing recently reported figures, she said 4,000 rejected asylum applications have been "quietly quashed behind closed doors", a situation she blamed on former minister for justice Helen McEntee.
Cllr Tóibín said "after the light touch by Helen" in her view Ireland's new Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan has also "overturned 127 deportations" since becoming minister.
Another Aontú delegate who spoke from the podium said Ireland should not have to "re-write our Judeo-Christian values", and said it should be the case of "when in Rome do as the Romans".
A representative of Ogra Aontú from the Kildare South cumann added that while he disagrees with the use of the phrase "Ireland is full", there is a need for a more refined system, stressing "it is not the migrants fault".
A fourth Aontú member and official in Peadar Tóibín's Dáil office, Luke Silke, said concerns should also be raised over the standard of care in some IPAS facilities, quoting figures which he said indicated "20% of those who died [in the facilities] were under the age of two".
At a second session just after 10am on what the party has termed "common sense political reform", Aontú members voted in favour of asking the Government to put any future laws on "freedom of speech" to a referendum, a motion tabled by the Waterford cumann.
They also voted in favour of "an audit of all DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] policies" [Dublin South Central cumann], the ending of "unconscious bias training" in the Defence Forces [Dublin South Central cumann], and for an end to media "misinformation" based on off-the-record political briefings [Letterkenny and Donegal cumann].
Silke criticises lack of 'common sense' in Leinster House
Speaking during this session, Aontú member Luke Silke, who works in Leinster House, said there are serious problems with a lack of what he described as "common sense" in the location.
After referencing the Dáil bike shelter controversy and how officials had promised lessons would be learned about unnecessary spending, Mr Silke said in recent days he was in his office in Leinster House when a "civil servant walked in and asked 'where do you want me to put the art work?'".
Mr Silke said after he told the official he and his colleagues had not ordered any art, the official, he said, told him it is ordered by the Office of Public Works, a situation Mr Silke said is a waste of money.
Other delegates referenced the national children's hospital, saying former minister for health and current Tánaiste Simon Harris is to blame for the contract being signed - an issue previously raised by Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín in the Dáil this week, and disputed by the Tánaiste.
One delegate criticised the view, saying it was like saying "it's nothing to do with me, I was only the health minister".
