Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish fair winds to Deputy Varadkar. While he got some big calls right on the macro economy, the pandemic and Brexit, this has not been a Government for all people or for all parts of Ireland. People have become divided during the term of this Government. It has pitched urban against rural, motorist against cyclist, agriculture against the environmentalist and house buyers against immigrants. The social contract for young people is burst. Expectations for housing, good work and services have all been knocked back. The Dublin-Cork Cabinet has starved large swathes of Ireland of investment, development and economic hope for a better life. The Border, north-west and midland regions, as well as my own region of the south east, have roared at Cabinet members to advance meaningful projects outside of their own patches.

The administrative burden on our families, farmers, small businesses and home builders is out of control. As politics fails these people, their anger rises. It is a political mistake not to listen. Beyond reducing bureaucracy and supporting agriculture and enterprise, we have three tests in my region for the new Taoiseach - 24-7 cardiac care, our airport, and the SETU PPP and allied promised capital development. People in the south east are wondering how our new Taoiseach will change things for them. As Minister for Health we saw him standing on the Dublin children's hospital while failing to support capital spending at University Hospital Waterford. He is closely associated with the Department of Health's blocking of 24-7 cardiac care at UHW with the shoddy Herity report. We have still not seen the national cardiac review that he commissioned as health Minister in 2017. As Minister for higher education he is closely associated with preventing a full university in Waterford, forcing an underfunded merger between WIT and IT Carlow, and allowing unfettered spending and borrowing in the national university sector. Meanwhile, SETU Waterford has not seen a single new teaching building in more than 20 years. He promised new disciplines, buildings, lecturers, contracts, a borrowing framework and student accommodation, none of which have happened yet.

The regional south-east brain drain has worsened. The Minister is known for his ability to communicate, but talk without action remains just talk. Our late engagement over this vote has signalled to me that my region's priorities - 24-7 cardiac care, the airport, the equitable university funding programme and supports for our agriculture and business sectors - are not fully on the Minister's radar even though they are in the programme for Government. For that reason, alas, I cannot vote for him as Taoiseach today. Yet, I hope he is a successful Taoiseach, a Simon 2.0 who actually fixes things, delivers a form of leadership that renews hope in politics and delivers better, simple services to people in all parts of this Republic. Most of all, I hope his tenure signals that at last, the winds of positive change are coming for Waterford and the south east. Such change is the acid test for me and my constituents, and will show that the Cabinet is finally willing to listen and to deliver for Waterford and the south-east region.

See this speech in context