Government's first action - jobs for the boys - forget the girls says Laois TD Brian Stanley

Women have been forgotten about in the formation of a new Government which had as its first action to 'create more jobs for the boys,' according to Laois TD Brian Stanley.

The independent TD took aim at the Fianna Fáil / Fine Gael / regional independent coalition when he addressed the Dáil on the day Micheál Martin was elected Taoiseach.

The Laois TD congratulated but that's where the pleasantries ended when he spoke in the Dáil.

"We now have a new Government but we have a new Government of two old conservative parties and one regional group. The two Civil War parties are united now like never before. The problem is that nothing separates them, except one letter; they are FF and FG," he said.

Dep Stanley was critical of the gender make-up of the Ministerial team and delay in getting the Dáil operational.

"The Government's first action was to create more jobs for the boys - the girls seem to have been forgotten - and to suspend the Dáil yet again until 5 February," he said.

Dep Stanley also slammed the Government's plan for the next five years for Securing Ireland's Future. 

"We now have a programme for Government which, on the big issues facing workers and families, fails. For example, on housing where is the rent freeze that hundreds of thousands of people across the State need so badly? There are not even effective rent controls. We are going to have a rent register instead. Where is the massively expanded affordable housing scheme for those middle-income families that desperately need it? MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Picture of Taoiseach with President Michael D Higgins with other Ministers  and others in Áras on Úachtaráin

"Where is the commitment to drive on with cost-rental schemes to provide homes for those low-paid workers who are just above the income limit for social housing? It is very important that this is addressed.

"Last year, the then Minister for Housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, promised that up to 40,000 - the figure was at least in the high 30,000s - new homes would be finished. What happened? We had 30,000 new homes finished, which was 3,000 fewer than in 2022.

"In health there is no evidence of a commitment or determination to get a national health system in place, as envisaged under Sláintecare, which was put in place back in 2016 or 2017. There are no timelines to put that system in place. Instead, we are a muddling along with the inefficient two-tier system we have. There is no sign of the system that has been in place in most European countries for the past 60, 70 or 80 years. Hundreds of thousands of people will continue to languish on hospital waiting lists and waiting for appointments," he said.

Dep Stanley highlighted a particular child health issue in Laois relating to dental treatment for children in Laois as an 'absolute scandal'.

The TD is in the Independents and Smaller Parties technical group on the opposition benches. He voted against Mr Martin in the vote for Taoiseach.