Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have looked at some of the proposals being put forward, particularly regarding housing, and there is very little difference between them. Everything that has been proposed, as far as I can see, in some way has been proposed or copied and pasted from documents that have already been put out there.

The position of the Dáil is that Fine Gael is the largest party, Fianna Fáil the second largest, then Sinn Féin, then Labour, smaller parties and others. Those numbers show the inevitability of the marriage that we all know is necessary in order to have a Government, and the pantomime that we have had has to end. Let us all face the fact that a quarter of the people elected to the Dáil have no intention of ever serving in government. Sinn Féin does not want to go into Government, and that must be acknowledged. That is fine by me because I do not want them to go in either. Fine Gael is making some sort of effort; Fianna Fáil is being too cute by half. I found Deputy Martin's contribution here tonight to be one of the most patronising I have heard in the Dáil in many years. The simple fact of the matter is that in 2011 we in the Labour Party had to put the country first at its most difficult time, and we did that. Deputies might disagree with what the Labour Party did, but it produced and it went into government for the benefit of this country.

The marriage that is being proposed - the courtship will begin later this evening - is required for the sake of the country. If the courtship ends soon, the alternative is for all of us to do what Deputy Varadkar tweeted about, which is to get our posters ready.

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