Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be able to say a few words in the Dáil this evening. I sympathise with the people who lost their seats and welcome the new Deputies and their families here today. I sympathise in particular with the former Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Pat The Cope Gallagher.

I thank the staff and ushers who have dealt with the large crowds here today. New Members, their families and supporters are enthusiastic and, obviously, not everybody could be accommodated.

The Rural Independent Group is willing, ready and able to talk to everyone, as we committed to in the course of the election. We have already spoken to Sinn Féin and have been asked to talk to Fianna Fáil and we look forward to that.

I will be voting against the nomination of the caretaker Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, because the people voted Fine Gael out of government. They voted for change and do not want Fine Gael. We have pointed out misgivings about the Government for the past four years - not that we know everything and are infallible because we are not. We have listened to the people, to be ag éisteacht, which the previous Government did not do. I want a Government that will govern and serve the people. We are all Teachtaí Dála, messengers of the people. We are supposed to serve the public, not ourselves.

I want to get rid of quangos. Previous Governments have promised to do that but set up more of them. Ministers and the Government should be held accountable and not pass the buck to the HSE and everybody else. There has been quango after quango such as Uisce Éireann. We need accountability. We need to be able to help the people who voted for us. I thank the people of Tipperary who voted for me and the other four representatives of the constituency. I commiserate with the people who were not voted in. Those people need to be served. They have been let down, from the cradle to the grave, by successive Governments who have their hands so firmly attached to the handlebars of power that one would need a hammer and chisel to remove them. Those people must be removed. We serve the people and must deliver for them.

I look forward to meaningful engagement with parties to try and get a new Government that will deliver for people caught up in the health crisis. There are no mental health beds in Tipperary. That is a national scandal. Farming communities, fishermen and students need to be served. Successive Governments have been too close to big business and have forgotten about small business people. Members of Fine Gael have spoken about the man who gets up in the morning and goes to work, raises his family and pays his way. Those sorts of people have been crucified and squeezed and that is why they voted the way they did.

Crime, drugs and drug gangs are rampant all over the country, including in my own county. A motorway was held up last week with illegal racing. It is unbelievable. People are out of work. Others are trying to build homes when planning conditions are ridiculous. Many people are homeless. There are people aged 90 and 100 waiting for days on trolleys in our hospitals. That is a shocking indictment of Ireland, which is 100 years old, the commemoration of which we celebrated this time last year.

My colleagues and I want to be involved in trying to make things better, to serve the people and not ourselves. I look forward to engaging with everybody else who wants to do the same.

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