Taoiseach and Sinn Féin leader trade Orwell-themed barbs in mica debate

Micheál Martin criticised Mary Lou McDonald for engaging in "double-think" in relation to the concrete levy

Taoiseach Micheal Martin claimed that Sinn Féin are "on both sides all of the time". Photo: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

The Taoiseach has insisted that some contribution will have to be made to the "extraordinary expenditure" on the mica redress scheme.

During testy exchanges in the Dáil, the Micheál Martin accused Mary Lou McDonald of "making it up as you go along," and compared Sinn Féin's policy to George Orwell's 1984.

Mr Martin said the remediation scheme to which the Government is committed will cost €2.7 billion for mica, €230 million for pyrite, and anything from €1.5 billion to €2.5 billion for apartments.

"That is €4.5 billion to €6 billion in the cost of remediation and there has to be a revenue stream to at least contribute to that extraordinary expenditure," he said.

The Taoiseach said the detailed design of the levy will be fully worked out in the Finance Bill, but said the Department of Finance’s calculations are much lower than the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, which indicated that the measure could put around €4,000 on the cost of a new home.

Mr Martin criticised the Sinn Féin leader for engaging in "double-think" in relation to the concrete levy announced as part of last week's Budget.

"When George Orwell wrote his great novel, 1984, he talked about the party’s emphasis on double-think. Describing it, he explains that party members have 'to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them'. Most people who have read 1984 took it as a warning but the Deputy’s party seems to be taking it as some sort of instruction manual," Mr Martin said.

The Taoiseach added: 

God help us if her party ever gets near the national finances.

Directly responding to Mr Martin's Orwell comparisons, Ms McDonald said: "The Taoiseach would be more Animal Farm than 1984, some being more equal than others and none more unequally treated than that generation I have described to him who are locked out of home ownership, and well he knows it."

She was referring to Orwell's novel which centres around a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. However, once this is achieved, one of the pigs named Napoleon seizes power by force and ends up exploiting the animals just as the farmer had done.

Ms McDonald claimed the proposals for a 10% concrete levy are "flawed" and will make the housing crisis even worse as she said the levy will simply put the burden of pain on ordinary people looking to buy a home.

Ms McDonald said: "The Taoiseach would be more Animal Farm than 1984, some being more equal than others and none more unequally treated than that generation I have described to him who are locked out of home ownership, and well he knows it." Photo: Damien Storan

"The Taoiseach's scheme is really a levy on those desperately seeking to buy or build a home, because companies will simply factor it in. They will pass on the increase to customers and it will inevitably push up prices that, as the Taoiseach is aware, have already soared beyond their Celtic tiger peak," she told the Dáil.

Mr Martin responded by claiming that Sinn Féin are "on both sides all of the time".

He added: "Animal Farm applies to the Deputy’s party more than any other party in this Dáil any day, no question about that. Ask a lot of the dissidents and a lot of the people who left her party down through the years. They can verify the degree to which Animal Farm applies to it."