Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The primary purpose of the Dáil today and in the weeks to come is to seek by agreement to provide a stable and balanced Government that will provide the basis for many of the reforms people on all sides of the House indicate they are in support of. I would warn against excessive procrastination. The people have spoken and have given mandates to many of the parties here. There can only be one outcome to the different mandates that is positive for people. This is the formation of a Government that has the capacity to govern wisely and well in the interests of all of the people of Ireland. The issue of Dáil reform is important but I would argue that it is secondary to the interests of the people in the formation of a solid, stable and balanced Government for this country. The people have voted and given mandates as they did so to a variety of different political parties. Political parties cannot just decide to sit back and not be involved in what the people voted for.

I ask the Taoiseach and possibly the Ceann Comhairle to take the initiative to provide that on each of the days on which the Dáil is assembled - 23 March and 6 April 2016 - there will be a report by the Taoiseach to the House on what progress has been made towards the formation of Government. I have no problem with the issues that have been identified for debate if that can be agreed. They are significant issues but they are secondary in terms of the constitutional imperative that the country will need a Government and that there should not be excessive procrastination. Of course, there must be discussions and people must grapple with new realities in respect of how people voted, which may not have been the outcome for which they wished. The outcome for which the people voted is here in this House and people cannot avoid their responsibility to give the people of this country a stable and, hopefully, lasting Government.

Inherent in many of the contributions today is an implicit recognition that the country has moved on, not to a perfect place but to a far better place than was the case when we took over in 2011. As is the case after every election, there is a need for more progress to be made for people's conditions to be improved but that does not mean that we should take for granted the progress that has been made such as the fact that we can now borrow on international markets. When we came into office, Ireland could only borrow at interest rates of around 10%. We can now borrow at interest rates of roughly below 1%. Excessive procrastination will send out a message about the country. On reflection, people may wish to acknowledge that not everything is perfect in the country but that very significant progress has made, not least the fact that the level of unemployment has fallen from a high of over 15%, so-----

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