Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I move: "That Deputy Eamon Gilmore be nominated for appointment as Taoiseach."

It is an honour for me to propose Deputy Gilmore to be Taoiseach. The Taoiseach we elect today will lead our country in testing times. There will be hard choices to make but also opportunities to seize. Today is like the changing of the guard. The traditional ritual seems to offer reassurance; things change but everything remains the same. We know that is a fantasy because things have changed fundamentally. Since we went though this ceremony last June, tens of thousands have lost their jobs, businesses have closed, the cost of living has risen steeply and the State finances have slipped rapidly into deficit. What the country is getting is a changing of the guard. What the country needs is a change of Government.

So much depends on leadership. Deputy Eamon Gilmore can provide that leadership as a man in touch with the rural Ireland of his upbringing. He has spent his life representing working people and their families, and is known for his commitment to the vulnerable. He is a man who believes in equality and solidarity as real and realisable political goals.

Today, Ireland has a crisis of confidence in the way our country is run, in the political process and in the power of vested interests. Trust has become a rare commodity. Bravado statements that everything is fine and an election that was won on deception about the economy have led to this collapse of confidence.

Ireland faces a leadership deficit because those about to take charge cannot bring themselves to recognise just how serious the situation is and just how responsible their actions have been for the state we are now in. The result is likely to be a downturn longer and deeper than it needs be and the whole country will suffer.

I know that the Tánaiste, Deputy Brian Cowen, has the confidence of his party, which is well and good. He will have a fair wind from the country for a while to see if he can get to grips with current problems in a fresh and imaginative way, but, frankly, I doubt it. Everything suggests that the people of Ireland will need to look elsewhere for the kind of leadership that can offer honest government in turbulent times as an alternative to one that is tied hand and foot, as this one is, to the vested interests of speculators, developers and reckless bankers.

Time and again the Tánaiste, Deputy Cowen, waved away warning messages that flashed as brightly as neon signs. Every time, however, vested interests won the argument. The casual reaction of Deputy Cowen to the decline in the public finances is ominous. That was directly under his control. He cannot blame the European Central Bank in Frankfurt or the Federal Reserve in Washington for all that has happened. It was his call to steer a correction course but he did not do so and this begs a critical question. Is this Minister for Finance the person to guide the country as Taoiseach through the more difficult times ahead? We need to go back to the basic values that put Ireland and her people first, that put need before greed and people before profit.

I nominate the Leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Gilmore, for Taoiseach because he is the kind of leader who will speak of a new principle for a new age. Deputy Gilmore has a vision for Ireland. He wants to re-establish a strong sense of direction in our national life, of who we are and where we want to go. I recall that Franklin D. Roosevelt led the United States out of the Depression by taking the core principles of social democracy on board. We have nothing like the difficulties of those times, but today we place those same principles of social democracy to the front and centre of the political agenda by nominating Deputy Gilmore for the post of Taoiseach.

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