Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to contribute on this debate. I am struck by the level of debate and what is being discussed. Galway East, which is a rural and urban constituency, faces many issues. It has been stated in this debate that we are wasting our time. Although we must have it, we will have lost a great deal of credibility as politicians if we do not return to the real job we must do. We have to bring the country out of the pandemic. We got the good news yesterday that there may be a vaccine, but we must save jobs and ensure that whatever we do in the House is for the people. We can have debates about issues such as this one from time to time, but it is time now for every politician who has been elected to the House to serve the people to focus on what we need to do.

I was elected and chose to enter into opposition. I said that I would be constructive in opposition. I am here to call the Government to account if I believe it is not doing something right, but I am also here to support the Government when I believe it needs help. I think it needs a bit of help to get it out of this situation this evening, so I will support it. However, we must do things right from now on and ensure that we focus on the issues that are causing suffering and leaving small business people not knowing what to do. We must also ensure that we deal with the school secretaries and community employment scheme supervisors. These are the real issues that the we need to deal with, and that I want to deal with, in this Dáil.

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