Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A Cheann Comhairle, déanaim comhghairdeas leat as a bheith tofa mar Cheann Comhairle arís. Tá súil agam go mbeidh tréimhse fhada agus fhiúntach agat. Tacaím le hainmniúchán Teachta Varadkar mar Thaoiseach na Dála seo. Measaim gur thug sé ceannaireacht an-mhaith agus sofheicthe dúinn. Bhí sé macánta freisin. Rinne sé a lán rudaí an-mhaith don tír seo. Ó thaobh cúrsaí sláinte de, tá feabhas an-mhór tagtha i mo Dháilcheantar féin, i gContae Lú, go háirithe in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. Many things need to be done in the area of health but many things have also been done by the outgoing Government. Along with my colleagues in Fine Gael, I stand here today having been elected because of the work that has been done. More than 80 new beds have been opened in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. There are five new operating theatres and a brand new accident and emergency department. There has been a great improvement in services. There are 10,000 more people getting up for work in Louth than there were five years ago because of the significant improvement in our economy. If we elect Deputy Varadkar as Taoiseach and put Fine Gael in office, the excellent work that has been started and which remains to be finished will continue.

I will move to the main point I want to make. I speak as a Deputy elected for the fifth time. I am a father and a grandfather and I worked as a teacher for many years. I know many families in my town, as does the Ceann Comhairle. I have never seen a crisis such as now exists among our young people. I have never heard a chief superintendent speak like Christy Mangan who has said that, in his view as a professional Garda chief superintendent, we will lose a whole generation to our drug problem unless we deal with it more effectively and more comprehensively. I know this from the violence and vile and evil actions in my own town, where people have been shot, people have been murdered and people's bodies have been dismembered. It would be absolutely unacceptable for this to continue in our society. The most important thing the Ceann Comhairle's Business Committee could do when it meets - regardless of who is in government - would be to collectively agree to deal with this problem comprehensively and inclusively and to invite experts in. We need to offer hope to young people in communities suffering from this drug problem. We need to offer them a real future. We need to fight crime and to defeat it. We will only do that by engaging fully with the needs of our young people. We need to do it now. That is the most important message. Regardless of who forms the Government, we should all work together. We did it with Sláintecare; let us do it with our drug problem. Let us make sure that the next generation of young people will be safe and secure and as happy and fulfilled in their lives as we have been lucky enough to be in ours.

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