Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas agus fáilte mhór a chuir roimh na Teachtaí Pádraig Ó Súilleabháin, Malcolm Byrne and Joe O'Brien and I welcome their families. This is a momentous and special day for all of them. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle will, I am sure, forgive me for extending a very special welcome to the man to my left - position-wise, not politically - Mark Ward. Mark is a very welcome addition to a very strong Sinn Féin team. I welcome his parents, Joan and Billy, and his son, the wonderful Oisin, who is a gifted and talented hurler.

There was something in the stars for us Dubliners that on the day we lost Jim Gavin, we gained Mark Ward to this Parliament. The challenges that face all of us collectively and individually as political parties are very considerable. The message has come back loud and clear that the current Government of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is failing ordinary people. They have said that very loudly. It is incumbent on us Deputies in opposition, therefore, to set out our stall, not just of critique and analysis but of solutions and answers, which solutions and answers the people so desperately long for.

I wish each of the Deputies a fair wind in this Dáil and I again congratulate their families. I take this opportunity to put one and all on notice that the battle is now on to change Ireland, to change politics in this State, to deliver for people and to plan for the decade ahead, a decade of opportunity in which we can rise to the challenges of our people. This in the end was the message sent to us from the doorsteps. I welcome Wardy on board the team and I thank our activists and the electorate who came out and cast their vote for Sinn Féin.

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