Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I compliment my colleague, Deputy Barry Cowen, for introducing this motion. My party has nothing to apologise for in so doing. Some people seem to think that because we got a significant beating in the recent election we should crawl under a stone or run away but we should not. We have a mandate. I have a mandate to be in this House representing the people who put me here, just as my 18 colleagues similarly received a mandate. It was diminished, as judged by previous elections, but we have a mandate. We were elected the main Opposition party and our job is to hold the Government to account. We should never fall back or renege from that.

I attended a public meeting recently where a man told me a government is only as good as its opposition. I question where-----

See this speech in context