Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also was going to thank the Ceann Comhairle and congratulate him on his election. I am sure the Acting Chairman will pass on my congratulations. I also thank and congratulate the people of Sligo-Leitrim for the huge vote they had for Sinn Féin. The people of north Roscommon and south Donegal came out in their thousands and voted for change. Change has become the byword of this election. We talk here about what that change means. Clearly the big change is in the numbers. There has been a great reduction in the number of Members representing Fine Gael and in the number of those representing Fianna Fáil. There has been an increase in the number of Members representing Sinn Féin and other parties. That is the reflection of that change. The numbers game is where we see that in its starkest form. If we are to have a Government that ignores this, the parties that put that Government together will pay dearly for it in the future. We have to think of the future. Clearly the future is what everything is about.

I noticed during the week that the Taoiseach mentioned that Sinn Féin policies were extraordinary. "Extraordinary" is a word we often use to compliment things or sometimes to say the thing is not as good as it should be. We embrace the word "extraordinary". We had an extraordinary election and we have extraordinary policies and an extraordinary ambition to solve our housing crisis. We have an extraordinary ambition to solve the health crisis. We have an extraordinary ambition to solve the issues of childcare in this country, and to bring jobs back to the north west, where I live, and where we send our children to college. Many of them do not see a future because there is no future for graduates in that area. We do not think it is extraordinary to believe that those things can happen for the future and for our children's future. We believe they should be normal. If it requires extraordinary measures now, we are prepared to take them. We are prepared to stand up and count for a better future for all of our people. The ambition that we have and the ambition that the people have was reflected in the vote. They voted for change but it was not just to change the composition of the same conservative-type Government as we have had in the past. They voted for a different type of Government. There should be an acknowledgement of that from all of the people who are in this Chamber.

I also want to commiserate with all of those who lost their seats, from all parties. Over the past four years I have had a good relationship with everyone of every political persuasion in this Chamber. It is always on a personal level regrettable to see people not returning. However, we won the election. That is a lesson for the establishment. The establishment is reeling from that and it finds a problem with it. The reality is that there has been a vote for change. The Green Party quadrupled its seats and the Social Democrats trebled their seats. Sinn Féin has massively grown its seats. That is the reflection of the change that people demand. If we are going to have a Government, it has to reflect that. We want to make it happen. The big change that needs to happen over the next period is a change in attitude. The attitude of not speaking to people, deciding they are going to use the past to damage the future of our country, our children and our children's children, is a very bad way to go forward. That change of attitude needs to happen particularly, and I say this with the utmost respect, on the part of the Deputies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The people have spoken. They have said they want change. That is reflected in the numbers of Deputies from other parties whom they have elected here. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to sit down and talk to everyone to see if they can be part of that change or if they want to form a conservative future. People do not want that; that is what they voted against. I say with full respect to everyone here that over the next couple of weeks we have a job of work to do and we have to get down and do it. Looking to the past is not going to get us a better future. We have to be determined to work together; every one of the 160 human beings in here has a responsibility. If we are going to be responsible, we have to leave the past behind us, come together and work out a better future. We are prepared to do that. I hope others will step up to the mark and do it also.

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