Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I think he is very well-placed. Just as background, as a teenager, he established the AAA autism group in Wicklow.

Believe it or not, this is not that unusual. Right across the country, there are civic actions like that where people are co-ordinating and organising to improve the quality of the lives of their people. In autism alone, we have Snowflakes Autism Support in Swords, which recognises that every individual is special or different but occasionally can suffer a meltdown. It organises activities for families of children with autism. Open Spectrum in south Dublin does the exact same, as does the Rainbow Club in Cork. This is happening all over the country. We have this tradition of civic engagement and part of that is recognising that the State does not do enough. That is where the instinct comes from to go into politics, which all of us have in different forms. This House is made up of ordinary Irish people who have been given the mandate to try to decide how we allocate resources. That is what we are deciding here today, to elect a Taoiseach to represent all of us and through us, all the people.

I believe the strength that Simon Harris, like the Taoiseach, showed during the Covid period will stand to him in the hard decisions that have to be made in government. The real test is whether you can do the hard things. I also think that the last four years working in the Cabinet have given him a sense that the future has to be green. We have turned around the apprenticeship scheme, recognising that the future for young people in Ireland is through a green just transition. That is the greatest opportunity for us. It starts from our young people and is coming from them. What he learned in the Cabinet in that role gives me confidence that we can continue on this path.

It is the Cabinet, and not just the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, that makes the decisions. Working in the Cabinet in a collectively responsible way is what is important. There will be new people coming into the Cabinet, Lord only knows who yet. I am confident we can retain what the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have said about collective Cabinet responsibility and partnership continuing to deliver for the people for the remaining ten months of this Government.

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