Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

With the Acting Chairman's indulgence, I will refer to the general political situation here. It indirectly relates to the European Council because it seems the Council will concern nothing but the nature of politics in France, Italy and, most of all, Britain. How we engage in politics, however, is part of the discussion.

Before I entered the Chamber, I was working in the bowels of the Joint Committee on Climate Action and, therefore, I did not hear Deputy Micheál Martin's speech, but he had the good courtesy to approach me to inform me of his decision. It is only good courtesy of me to contribute with honesty because I had also spoken to him in private about the issue last week.

We happened to have a Green Party office party upstairs in a pub while the Fine Gael national executive moved in downstairs. The two met briefly and we chatted about our political situation. I did not expect this Dáil to run through the next budget. I thought it would go after Brexit had been done. As I said yesterday at a public meeting on the 100th anniversary of the First Dáil, we have done a good job in this Dáil over the past two and a half to three years. It seems like only yesterday the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, was a mere slip of a new backbencher. I did not think we would last this long or that she would last this long. Collectively, it has been better that we did this. If there is another year, and there may not be, there is a lot-----

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