The spectre of politicians tripping over themselves to claim that while they campaigned for a Yes Yes vote on the Family and Care Amendments in last weekend’s referendum, they flipped and voted NO NO has been slammed as disingenuous and lacking in credibility.
Aontú’s Becky Kealy Says
“If ever there was a case to back up the belief that some politicians say one thing and do another, this is it”.
“It is actually outrageous. It is a slap in the face for people who believe in honesty and integrity in politics and it is literally playing politics with people. So many people had deeply held feelings on the proposed changes to the amendments to our Constitution and these politicians are literally playing political football with it”.
“Groupthink in Leinster House was laid bare following the referendum as politicians who campaigned for a yes yes result quickly jumped ship in the aftermath”.
“Lisa Chambers is a senior politician in FF and leader of the Seanad as just one who did a 360 U turn, but only after the vote!. We now know that she says she opposed the Care amendment from the outset. Despite her alleged opposition Chambers remained silent. She failed to raise concerns with party leadership. She also failed to use her position in the upper house to debate and thrash out the potential consequences of the proposed amendments. She is the Leader of the Seanad. It is absolutely astonishing that she didn’t voice her alleged concerns to Senator Michael McDowell, a colleague and one of the most vociferous voices against the Yes Yes camp”.
“I think it may be closer to the mark to say that she, together with others, saw the huge no no vote and obviously realised they were on the wrong side of history on this and did a complete ‘volte- face.”
“Sure next they’ll be saying they were out for Easter Week 1916!”.
“It is undignified and makes one wonder if many of our politicians have any scrap of moral and ethical fibre at all”.
“The vast majority of the opposition should hang their heads in shame. Bar Aontú and a few Independents who bravely stood firm in the midst of huge pressure and Government propaganda, the parties who are supposed to oppose instead took on a supporting role with gusto”.
“It is reckless in the extreme for politicians to encourage the electorate to vote for something they themselves claim they couldn’t support”.
“Remember we had a Banking Crash that caused untold misery and heartache for people and then, as of now, the opposition was mute and didn’t do its job as it should”.
“The Constitution is our foundational document. Constitutional change is no small thing. It’s not a document to be used for political expediency. It’s incredible that senior politicians didn’t have the courage and conviction to raise legitimate concerns about the proposed legislation. It’s shocking that politicians failed to even raise their opposition with party leadership.”
“The hate speech bill is another example of a government out of touch with the people. It is a clear example of politicians following the herd led by the NGO bubble surrounding Leinster House. The hate speech legislation is deeply flawed and will restrict free speech. It is dangerous and it has to be binned. There are laws to protect people already on the statute books and that is as it should be. We don’t need this new bill that once again politicians are pushing, arguably doing the bidding of well-funded, high-profile NGO’s who have no mandate from the public.”.
“Ireland needs politicians with courage and conviction. We need politicians who can critically think and stand up for what is right. We need a political system which represents the voter, not the NGOs. Government has an absolute duty to start listening to the voters and scrap the hate speech legislation”.
“I firmly think that the resounding vote from the electorate have had enough of weak leadership and want fair, just and balanced leaders who genuinely care about the people and who won’t lead them into dangerous cul de sacs.
“There are conviction politicians and there are career politicians. I think it’s obvious which camp some of our politicians belong to”.
About the author : Gary Pacheco
