Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The announcement this afternoon of the resignation of the Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, Leo Varadkar, brings us to a critical moment in Irish politics. The decision of who now leads the Government as Taoiseach must be placed in the hands of the people. The decision of who is in government must be placed in the hands of the people. Today’s announcement can have only one conclusion: the calling of a general election. The Taoiseach stated that it was his time to go and that he was not the person for the job. It is clear that it is time for this entire Government to go to allow the people to have their say and to allow the election of a new Government. The very idea that the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party would gather in conclave to reshuffle the office of An Taoiseach – the highest office in the land – without the people having their say is unthinkable. We need a new government that will deliver the change that workers, families and communities so badly want; a government that will fix housing and, instead of going around in circles, ensure that a generation can put secure and affordable roofs over their heads and rekindle the aspiration of homeownership for ordinary people; a government that will fix our health service, ensure that people can see a doctor when they are sick, end the scandal of patients on hospital trolleys, get children off waiting lists and into operating theatres for life-changing surgery, and guarantee that people can get the care they need in the right place and at the right time; and a government that will give our young people the chance to build a good and prosperous life and future here in Ireland instead of being forced to seek opportunity far away in the United States, Australia and Canada and, crucially, will achieve change and build pathways home for those who so desperately want to come back.

Ireland has changed and is changing. All around, we see the signposts to the new republic that this generation is shaping, a generation determined to achieve the Ireland denied our parents and grandparents before us, not held back by the past, but rising to a modern vision of the Ireland that can be. This is a time for fresh leadership, a time for change; not just a change of Taoiseach, but a change of Government and a change of direction. Tá sé in am don athrú, ní hamháin athrú Taoisigh ach athrú Rialtais agus athrú treo don tír.

Fine Gael has been in government for far too long. Ireland had one of the highest rates of homeownership in Europe when Fine Gael came to office in 2011. That has collapsed. Fine Gael has failed on housing and health and has failed to tackle the cost of living. It is out of touch, has run out of ideas and has run out of time. Another Fine Gael Taoiseach is not what people want. This Government of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party has run out of steam and road. Rather than limping on in a caretaker capacity, go to the Phoenix Park and ask Uachtarán na hÉireann for a dissolution of the Dáil. Let us go to the people. They decide who leads.

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