Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

Ba maith liom chomhghairdeas a ghabháil leat, a Cheann Chomhairle, as ucht an post tábhachtach sin a bhaint amach. Bhí áthas orm nuair a chuala mé go dtabharfaidh tú cothram na féinne dúinn ar fad. Tá a fhios agam go gcomhlíonfaidh tú an geallúint sin.

I thank those people in Dublin Central who voted to return me to the 30th Dáil. It is a great honour for all of us to be elected to Dáil Éireann but it is particularly difficult for an Independent candidate to succeed in a general election. I owe a great deal to a group of people who on a voluntary basis campaigned, canvassed and erected posters to help me compete with the big political machines. I thank every one of them for their efforts, which made my re-election possible. However, it is particularly disappointing that in my own constituency of Dublin Central, more than 40% of the electorate did not consider it worth their while to vote. The percentage of those who did not vote was much higher in the more disadvantaged areas of the constituency.

When I spoke here five years ago, I welcomed the many new Independent Deputies elected at that time but, regrettably, nearly all of that group lost out on this occasion. It is appropriate to pay tribute to each of them for the committed manner in which they played an important and active role through the Technical Group in all the deliberations of the outgoing Dáil. I pay special tribute to the leader of the Independent group during the past five years, Joe Higgins, who after ten years of total commitment in terms of bringing the attention of this House to social injustices, was not re-elected. This House will be a duller and, more important, a less inclusive place without Joe Higgins. I am certain, however, that his day will come again.

On the nomination of Taoiseach, there has been some speculation in recent weeks in the media regarding why I was not involved in talks with one of the nominees, Deputy Bertie Ahern. Perhaps that was because we both shared the same constituency and the Deputy was conscious of the priority issues on which I contested the recent election. Those issues include the need to end the two-tier health service and the scandal of the exploitation of public hospitals for private profit; the need to control the price of building land, much of which is held by a cartel of billionaire developers who have driven house prices beyond affordability for most people; the need to radically address the inequality in education, which sees less than 5% of children in some communities in Dublin Central going to third-level education; the need to strive for a fairer and more equal society; the need to safeguard our neutrality and sovereignty by ending the shameful use of Shannon Airport by United States military forces on their way to their murderous and illegal war in Iraq; the need to develop our natural resources to benefit our people and not at the behest of multinational oil companies; and the need to ensure that when a person dies in Garda custody or dies of injuries sustained while in custody, an immediate and independent investigation is conducted. These were some of the political issues on which I stood for election in Dublin Central and it is they and no other consideration whatever which will dictate the manner in which I will vote on the nomination for Taoiseach.

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