A COUNTY Limerick TD has described the recent rotation of Government Ministerial portfolios as “shallow”.
Rural Ireland Independent TD Richard O’Donoghue was critical of the fact that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar introduced minimal change at his cabinet table in the run-up to Christmas.
He claimed the reshuffle amounted to “jobs and perks for political insiders”.
“I didn’t attend the announcement as I felt I could be more productive working on the ground in Limerick rather than sit through what was already well known,” Deputy O’Donoghue said.
“Continuing the overwhelming failed status quo demonstrates that the political party comes first, not the nation.”
The Banogue man is of the opinion that a change of direction is urgently needed to provide basic public services.
“This rotation has achieved nothing for the 60,000-plus people on the UHL waiting list, nor for the elderly who were cold in their homes this Christmas, the several hundred homeless across Limerick, nor the 5,000 or so on the local social housing waiting list.
“At a national level, over 300,000 people — or 10,000 every single month — have been added to hospital waiting lists since the coalition came to power. Yet, the minister responsible, Stephen Donnelly, is shockingly rewarded by re-appointment.
“This is the clearest manifestation of the utter lack of oversight and accountability running deep within healthcare management and the Irish political establishment.
“Treatment delayed is treatment denied, and an unchanging direction in our health emergency is recklessly unforgivable. Ultimately, this government’s model of leadership has disintegrated entirely.”
The rotation in government, he concluded, has been a “complete pantomime”.
“Doubling down on failed policies that are outdated, reactionary, and frankly irrelevant to the changed circumstances Ireland now faces is scandalous.
“Ordinary people throughout Limerick are the victims of the egomaniacal politics played by this government. The Ministers must realise that the people who elected them are greatly suffering from their governmental failures and that refusing to change course now is disappointing everyone.”
