Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has called for Ireland to "re-build the social contract", saying the housing and cost of living crises are proof the Government has broken that "simple promise" for a generation of Irish people.
Speaking during his keynote speech at Aontú's Ard Fheis at the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise this evening, Deputy Tóibín said a social contract is "nothing complex, is a far and reasonable objective".
The Aontú leader said a social contact should amount to the fact that "if you do an honest week's work, you will get an honest wage which will pay for a decent life", and that "if you get a good job you will be able to buy a home, provide for your family and you will have a good life".
However, he said "today, hard-working families cannot afford to buy a house".
He added that the Government's policies have "set a middle-income trap where families are too wealthy for a local authority house but too poor to survive the rental market".
The Aontú leader said "working families are now among the 17,000 people who are in homelessness", while children are missing "developmental milestones for crawling and walking due to the lack of floor space in hotel rooms".
"The social contract is so broken that it's changing the very fabric of Irish society. In 2009, 75,000 children were born in Ireland. Last year it was 55,000."
"Young couples are losing the confidence to have families," Deputy Tóibín added.
"Plunging birth rates are already leading to school closures and amalgamations. If it continues it will lead to radically increased pensions and health care costs, for the same generation that can't afford rents," he said.
The Aontú leader also turned his attention to wider public service issues, saying "Government red tape is blocking not just housing" but flood defences and the national children's hospital as well.
Deputy Tóibín also described the Government's immigration policy as "disastrous".
He said "they don't know how people are coming into the country" and "don't know if people issued with deportation orders were leaving because they have no exit checks at the airports".
Deputy Tóibín separately said he believes Ireland must retain the triple lock.
However, he said that "to be neutral we need to defend ourselves" and that "in government we (Aontú) will build up our defence forces and use Ireland's record as a catalyst for peace around the world".
Aontú was founded in 2019 by Mr Tóibín after he left Sinn Féin.
In last year's local elections it increased its councillors from three to eight, and have since had two more join the party.
In the 2024 General Election, the party stood candidates in all 43 constituencies.
That resulted in an increased national first preference vote, but only in two Dáil seats, that of Mr Toibín for Meath West and Paul Lawless for Mayo.
The party also has one senator, Sarah O' Reilly from Co Cavan, a former poll-topping councillor who was elected to the Seanad on the Agricultural Panel.
'Easier to direct Fianna Fáil' in a coalition, says Tóibín
Earlier, Mr Tóibín said he believes it would be "easier to direct Fianna Fáil" in a coalition than other parties, saying he believes his party can eventually enter government.
Deputy Tóibín said he believes Aontú "is a party of government".
Asked which party Aontú could in theory form a government alongside, Mr Tóibín - who believes his party could increase from two to 12 seats in the next general election - dismissed any potential future arrangement with Fine Gael.
However, he instead said he would be open to a future arrangement with Fianna Fáil, saying that party is "easier to direct" in a coalition as in his view it has few core, set policies.
Asked how this would happen given his party currently has two TDs and his own at-times difficult relationship with Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, Mr Tóibín said, "I would doubt Micheál Martin will be in charge of Fianna Fáil after the next general election".
He then criticised the Taoiseach for turning Fianna Fáil into "an empty, hollow husk" of a party, before saying he believes many Fianna Fáil backbenchers have the same view.
