Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama leis an Teachta Louise O'Reilly. Lá mór é seo i saol an Teachta Leo Varadkar agus saol a mhuintir, go háirithe a thuismitheoirí atá anseo inniu agus iad bródúil agus sásta. Cuirim fáilte mhór rompu. I particularly welcome Deputy Leo Varadkar's family to the House who are proud and happy on this big day in his and their lives.

Never in the history of this State has the need for a progressive head of Government been more essential. The ongoing difficulties in the North, the dire consequences of Brexit, the all-pervasive continuation of corruption, the hardship borne by ordinary people because of the crisis in the health services and housing and the scandals in justice and An Garda Síochána all demand a reforming Taoiseach to represent all of the people, not just some of them.

It is a major honour to serve as a Taoiseach, especially at 38 years of age but not all young people are radical, progressive or visionary. Today, the question is what kind of leader are we getting in Leo Varadkar. I have already expressed my fear that Teachta Varadkar will drag this Government even further to the right. As Minister for Social Protection, when he should have been working to protect the most vulnerable he used his position to make their lives even harder. More recently, he spent more than €200,000 of public money on a campaign which suggested that welfare fraud is rife in this State.

That has since proved to be untrue. This attitude contrasts sharply with Fine Gael's attitude to white collar crime and corporate tax dodging.

In his time as Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar failed to tackle a crisis that leaves patients languishing on trolleys and tens of thousands more waiting months for vital treatments. He presided over a two-tier health service and the privatisation agenda that is at the heart of Government policy. A couple of weeks ago, he claimed that the health services did not require significantly increased investment despite knowing that billions of euro had been cut from the health budget since 2011. There are now 3,200 fewer nurses and midwives than in 2008. Services for citizens with disabilities and other vulnerable citizens, including children, have been vandalised.

During the Fine Gael leadership contest, Deputy Varadkar stated that Sinn Féin represented the "greatest threat to our democracy". This is nonsense, and he knows it. This Chamber is a little theatre. It lends itself to theatrics and play-acting. Most of the media reflect this and I do not blame them for that. The politics of the soundbite rules and most of us can play that game.

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