Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I move: "That Deputy Enda Kenny be nominated for the position of Taoiseach."

Today we come as 165 equal people elected by the electorate to make decisions about the future of this country in a very changed economic environment. We must decide what our priorities are and whether we will just go on as we have done or opt for radical change.

In nominating Deputy Enda Kenny for the post of Taoiseach, Fine Gael makes it clear it is opting for a path of radical change. In Deputy Kenny, we have had a leader who has listened, who has understood and who has radically changed the way in which this party works. He has renewed Fine Gael. He has gone to the country and proposed to people a contract for a new Ireland. He has helped to build an alliance for change that came up just short in the last election. This interest and commitment to change has not waned but has intensified in light of the changes this country has seen in recent months.

Only 12 months ago, a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach was elected in this House with new sources of support and a programme for Government was put together. While I am sure it was well meant, Members know that programme for Government now is in tatters as the resources on which it was built will not materialise. Members must ask themselves whether they will stand in denial, pretend that matters have not radically changed and that the programme is deliverable. I believe it would be a betrayal of those people who Members are elected to this House to represent, were they to pretend nothing has changed, fail to face up to the fact that priorities must now change or to pretend that bureaucrats can continue busily working on projects for which there will not, in the words of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, be a red cent for delivery. I believe this would constitute a betrayal of the people who sent Members here.

See this speech in context