Aontú lays blame for cost-of-living and housing crisis on ‘completely detached’ politicians

Ireland is “buckling under a confluence of crises” with cost-of-living, housing and health issues “hammering” families on both sides of the border, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has said.

He said these issues have arisen due to politicians being “completely detached” from whom they serve, a lack of practical experience and due to the political system being an “accountability-free zone”.

His speech came at the end of the party’s ardfheis, which saw delegates gather at the City North Hotel in Gormanston, Co Meath on Saturday to discuss a range of issues, including the prospects of a united Ireland.

“Constitutional change is coming. Unionism is now a minority. The Irish Government must stop running away from this. We need to prepare for this change,” Mr Tóibín said.

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“We can start now to deliver services more efficiently on an all-Ireland basis. We can start to identify all barriers to north/south enterprise and agriculture and systematically start to reduce these barriers.”

The Meath West TD added: “We can give rights to elected MPs in the north of Ireland to sit, pose questions and speak in the Dáil on the same terms as a member of the Dáil.”

The former Sinn Féin politician, who quit the party in November 2018 over its position on abortion, having been suspended for voting against the legislation to allow for termination of pregnancy, said the right to life is a “foundation stone of Aontú”.

Mr Tóibín said Aontú would continue to “fight to vindicate that human right for every single person”.

“The abortion law that has been introduced has ended the lives of 23,000 children north and south. That’s 900 classrooms of children who would be here with us today are not, directly due to these laws,” he said. “I ask you if you can’t trust a politician in relation to these lives what can you trust them on?”

Kirsten Day, a spokeswoman for Democrats for Life, addressed the congregation via videolink, stating that the “most important human rights battle today is abortion”.

Delegates unanimously passed a motion to welcome the overturning of Roe V Wade, which saw the US Supreme Court eliminate the constitutional right to abortion.

“This battle is not over. We are entering a new era. We’re not on an easy road, but we are on the right one,” Ms Day said.

Speaking on the topic, Mairead Tóibín, who ran for the party in last year’s Dublin Bay South byelection, said the Supreme Court’s decision “increased democracy and freedom”, adding that the act of abortion is “founded on inequality”.

Jason Conroy, from Ógra Aontú, said: “Women’s equality in Ireland will only begin in earnest when we bring abortion to an end”.

There was also discussion on the inclusion of transgender people in single-sex sports and spaces during the meeting.

Cllr Sarah O’Reilly, from Cavan, said it was important to be “sensitive and respectful” to trans people, but added that “conflating biological sex with gender identity is a risk too high to take”.