TV3 leaders’ row ‘farce’ when real issues of jobs and prices need answers

Sinn Féin's Seán Crowe (Dublin South-West) and Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central) on the May Day march for action on unemployment

THE BICKERING about which leaders do which debate is “sickening” to people when parties should be dealing with serious issues such as thousands losing jobs and thousands more being forced to emigrate, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said on Saturday.

The Sinn Féin TD was speaking as he and Dublin Mid-West candidate Eoin Ó Broin were attending a conference in Dublin City Centre on ‘New Political Possibilities in Ireland’ for communities and policy-makers.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh said:

Nobody cares how many people Mícheál Martin wants to debate with. Nobody cares what Enda Kenny thinks of Vincent Browne. This is a complete joke.

There are serious issues that need to be addressed by political leaders and quite frankly the electorate deserves better than to be subjected to this silly squabble.

This underlines all that is wrong with Irish politics.

The election debate needs to turn quickly to real issues that are impacting on peoples’ lives such as unemployment and emigration.

And Aengus Ó Snodaigh pointed out that it was revealed recently that a woman who was found dead in Ballymun last year died of hypothermia because she had no heating.

Yet we have politicians arguing over who’s doing what debate and when.

It’s an insult to people who have already been so badly served by the political elite.

Sinn Féin supports fully inclusive leaders’ debates. The politics of exclusion is wrong and undemocratic. But politicians need to get on with the real business of trying to provide solutions to real problems.