John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also wish to acknowledge the new Deputy for Waterford, Deputy Butler.

They have dealt this deck of cards and have told us this is what they want. Are we seriously thinking that in the very near future, in a few months, we can go back to the people and say, "We are not happy with how you voted; would you please vote again". We cannot do that. We have a responsibility to the people of Ireland to form some form of government. Can we please stop going back five years to Fianna Fáil or going back two months to Fine Gael? We are as we are. This is what we have. This is what people want. There is no point in making derogatory remarks to people calling them ultra-left, ultra-right or whatever. These people have to be treated with respect. They have been voted for by the electorate. Everyone here has been voted in with a mandate to form a Government. We have a responsibility to speak to one another and forget the idea that one party will not speak to another party or that one party will not go into power with another party or whatever. That is not what the people have voted for. The people have voted for the 158 people present today. It does not matter to me if it takes the next two, three or four weeks. I do not think it matters to the people of Ireland; what they want is stability.

We are coming into some very desperate times. In June the United Kingdom could be facing exit from the European Union. It is not home and dry that will not happen. That could have a detrimental effect on Ireland, depending on one's point of view. The markets are unstable, including the markets in Japan and Germany, and we do not know what will happen in America. We do not have six months or a year. Having said that, we should take our time over a short or medium period of time to form a government. I do not want to go into Civil War politics, the Blue Shirts, Sinn Féin, the IRA or whatever. The fact remains that all 158 Members here have been voted in by the people of Ireland to form a Government; so do it.

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