Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate my two colleagues from the constituency of Limerick: Deputies Niall Collins and Richard O'Donoghue. I commiserate with my former colleague, Deputy Neville, on losing his seat in the election. I thank the almost 9,500 people in County Limerick who voted for me and the nearly 15,000 I finished up with.

I want to reflect on some points made by a couple of Members as I support Deputy Varadkar's nomination for Taoiseach. No one won this election. This was a three-way tie for third place essentially. There was a lot of reference to "we won" and "you lost". If they had won, they would have formed a government. The reality is that no one won. Deputy Michael McGrath is correct that since 1922 Governments have been formed in the House not on the basis of who can come in and make the best speeches on the first day of the Dáil but rather on the mandate from the people.

Deputy Howlin is also correct that it comes down to numbers. In the previous Dáil, the vast majority of Members absented themselves from the formation of a government and from the responsibility that the people gave them under the Constitution. Two parties decided to come together in a confidence and supply arrangement to provide a government. If those two parties are excluded and we look at the arithmetic, we are left with 87 who could form a government here today. The President could receive a nominee for Taoiseach and Ministers could be appointed later this evening. We all know that is not going to happen. We know that some people will abstain. They have been sent from their constituencies but they will abstain. What does that say to their constituents? We do not have an opinion on the people who have been nominated here this evening to take up the important role of Taoiseach. Then there will be people who will disagree with everybody. There are others who will wait for the phone to ring, for somebody else to contact them because they believe it is somebody else's responsibility to try to form a government. It is our collective responsibility to try to form a government. I have heard people say over the past couple of days, "We haven't heard from Sinn Féin" or Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. It is up to them to take the initiative to say, with their mandate, these are the issues we want to prioritise. Nobody should have a hiding place or run away from their position in this Dáil. Deputy Howlin is absolutely right that it is from the Dáil that the Government derives its mandate and responsibility. Over the time it takes to form a government, no matter how long, we must all be prepared to act responsibly and to say that this country deserves not to go through what happened the last time when, as Deputy Howlin rightly said, the majority of people decided to absent themselves and sit on the ditch. We cannot afford for that to happen again. That is why tonight after the four votes are lost and there is an interregnum, Members should act responsibly and say we need a government to tackle the issues that we all want addressed.

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