Dáil debates

Thursday, 20 February 2020

Taoiseach a Ainmniú - Nomination of Taoiseach

 

3:45 am

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate you, a Cheann Comhairle, on your re-election to the office of Ceann Comhairle and wish you well in your tenure over the next four years.

As other speakers have done, I thank the people in Limerick for returning me to the House and for their trust in giving me, along with others, the responsibility to represent them during the term of the Thirty-third Dáil. I thank my family and the team of supporters and workers who assisted in my campaign. I congratulate my constituency colleagues, the newly elected Deputy O'Donoghue and the re-elected Deputy O'Donovan. I acknowledge everybody who took part in the election, which is a great act of democracy throughout the country, and particularly in my constituency, as well as their teams. I acknowledge the unsuccessful candidates who took part in the election. Competition is a vital part of democracy in terms of giving people a choice regarding who will represent and work for them to make their lives and the lives of their families and communities better.

I look forward to exercising the mandate for change that has been given to me, my party and every other Member in this Chamber. No single Member or party has a monopoly on change or on how it will be implemented. There are no clear winners. There are people claiming to be the outright winners and others are running from responsibility. At the end of the day everybody will have to step up to the plate and form a programme for Government that is realistic, deliverable, achievable and will improve the lives of the many people in this country which drastically need improvement. Nobody can monopolise any particular agenda or mandate in a constituency. We all must work together for the betterment of the people in the public and national interest. I look forward to a Government being formed, which will enjoy a mandate from this House and from the people who put us here, in whatever combination that occurs. The programme for Government has to be realistic, deliverable and achievable. From our point of view, Deputy Micheál Martin is the person best placed to lead that change.

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