Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to express full confidence in the Taoiseach and also in the Attorney General, both of whom I have worked with. This is my first time to be involved in a government. The Government has faced difficult challenges, but I have to say the leadership that has come from the top has been extraordinarily powerful and positive, something which was not evident in the previous Government when it faced many challenges similar to those we faced when we took office. There is an irony in the fact the leader of Fianna Fáil, who was in government at that time and who left government before an election, has now decided to force a confidence motion in the Taoiseach who has solved many of the problems he totally failed to deal with.

In terms of the specifics of the issue at hand with regard to the Fennelly report, there is much in the report of concern. There is much in the Fennelly report which requires a Government response, and it is getting a Government response through what is probably the most fundamental reform of our justice infrastructure in Ireland we have seen certainly in my lifetime in politics-----

See this speech in context