Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Acting Chairman should not break the habit of a lifetime just because I am starting. I congratulate my constituency colleague, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, the Ceann Comhairle, his wife Mary Clare, and their extended family. It is an honour for him to be re-elected by the Members as Speaker of the House. It is a privilege for us in Kildare South, even if it means that we are going back to being a three-seater again for the next general election. I thank the people of the constituency for returning me to Dáil Éireann. It is an honour. It is my third time to be elected here. I thank my staff, my supporters, my family and everybody who helped to make that happen in the campaign.

The general election raised many topics, including those that would have been expected such as health and housing. Others were expected but not raised as much, including climate change and the economy. "Change" was a buzzword. There was a tangible feeling of change in topics since I first ran for the Dáil in 2011. The issues of unemployment, massive mortgage arrears, personal debt and crippling emigration were gone. I am proud to have served in the previous two Dáileanna as part of the Fine Gael Party that led Government. It fixed many of those issues and more, improved our citizens' quality of life, raised living standards and the minimum wage, and reduced deprivation levels. Such change brings its own challenges, with a rapidly growing economy and society. I heard that from many constituents in Kildare South who referred to rail capacity, school capacity, the need for more gardaí, and the extension of services in Naas General Hospital and beyond. When I reflect on these issues and the progress to be made, it all comes back to the fact that all of those challenges have been directly impacted by the severe economic recession less than ten years ago. The issues at that time, such as national debt, borrowings and the risk to national solvency, led to the very serious levels of catch-up that we now have. Let us not fool ourselves in this House.

Whatever Government is formed, the most important thing that we ensure the next Government does is to avoid the boom and bust cycle and another recession, so that we can have slow and steady growth over the next 20 to 30 years. Many countries are able to do that. That is why I will support Deputy Leo Varadkar to be Taoiseach today. He is a proven leader with a strong track record of delivery. If there is a stalemate after today's votes, as looks quite likely from what other contributors have said, then let all present here use our mandate to good effect in the coming days. Irrespective of what side of the House my party and I end up sitting on, we will continue to serve the people to the very best of our ability, and I expect all others to do the same. I thank everybody else who has been elected. I also think of those who were with us previously but who were not returned. I look forward to the Dáil term ahead.

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