Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right about something. My party has been in office for the past 12 years. In fairness to Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, they have not been in office for so long - only three years. However, there is no party in this House that has been in office on this island more than the Deputy's party. Sinn Féin has been 20 years in office on and off in Northern Ireland, with a Sinn Féin finance minister, a Sinn Féin housing minister and a Sinn Féin joint head of government to use its own terms. What is happening in Northern Ireland? House prices are going up and rents are going up. To use Sinn Féin's own figures, 20,000 people are homeless. If we have failed, surely Sinn Féin has failed worse and for longer. What are Sinn Féin's criteria for failure? Does it apply one standard for us and another standard for itself? That seems to be its metric and its approach to everything - one standard for the Government and a different standard for Sinn Féin.

See this speech in context