Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for allowing me two minutes of his time, as I could not let the evening go by without saying a few brief words. First, I congratulate the Taoiseach and those who have been appointed as Ministers, including the women who now will be in the Cabinet. I welcome the nomination to their positions of Deputies Frances Fitzgerald, Katherine Zappone, Mary Mitchell O'Connor and Heather Humphreys. It is important that women are to be found in all walks of life and in all work across the board. The real reason I wanted to speak was to take the opportunity to thank the Labour Party and to thank the outgoing Ministers, including Deputies Joan Burton and Brendan Howlin, and all the other colleagues with whom my party has worked over the past five years. It was an extraordinary time in my life and in the life of the country. I wish to thank Deputy Joan Burton personally for all the hard work she did in her time as Minister for Social Protection. I do not believe people realise the amount of effort and time she put into the job. She did a wonderful job, and I did not take those words from the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, as I already had them in my notes. I thank her because I believe sincerely that many good people in the Labour Party lost their seats who should not have.

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