Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the people of Dublin Central for their support and I look forward to working with all my colleagues to benefit the country and the constituency. As I stand in front of the Dáil I wonder what people had in mind when they went to vote for us. There were two things they wanted to achieve - diversity and stability - and by casting their votes they have achieved both. They have a diverse Dáil with new faces and new parties, and a stable Government with a large majority. What we need to do now is to reflect on what we want the Dáil and the Government to do.

I suggest that the Government should have two urgent priorities, on which I am glad to see it is now following up. The first is to clarify the cost and scale of our banking crisis. Crucially, we must break the link between the sovereign and that cost, which our Government is already beginning to do. Second, we must show that the Government is capable of creating an environment within which jobs can be created. For too long, people have seen the Government as something that sucks the lifeblood from an economy. It now has an opportunity to show it can inject new blood and vitality into the economy. The jobs budget that the Government will propose within the next 100 days provides a welcome opportunity to do that.

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