Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy McGrath will have his chance. In fact, he has had it. The truth is that at the latest count, well over 200 Bills have passed at a rate of sometimes three a week on Second Stage before entering limbo and going no further. They could have been debated by a university debating society as opposed to the national Parliament. In point of fact, I understand that this was acceptable for a period of time. All parties had to come to terms with the outcome of the last election. However, we are now facing very serious issues whereas we have debated issues in the past and following five or six votes decided to have no opinion on fundamental issues being unable to secure a majority for any point of view. That is sustainable for a while but it is not sustainable into the longer term.

In the context of the major issues we face, none more serious than Brexit, we need a stable Government. We need a Government which can command a majority in the House. That will ultimately mean some form of coalition because that is the way normal negotiations work when forming a Government. That would allow decisions to be brought to Cabinet by Ministers who know there is a chance of them getting through the Cabinet in the first place and that decisions of the Cabinet have a reasonable prospect of being enacting by the Houses of the Oireachtas. That has been the way of politics since the foundation of the State. This is a unique and unsustainable version of democracy. While I wish all of those who have got new jobs today well in their roles in the national interest, in particular Deputy McHugh who joins the Cabinet for the first time and whose appointment is the only decision we really have to make, the right thing to do now would, in fact, be to have a general election.

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