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

It is not agreed. Yesterday, the last words spoken by the Taoiseach were "let us get to work". Those were his direct words. We come today on his first day on the job and he is a no-show.

He is as láthair. We have a housing crisis. We have today 570 people on hospital trolleys across the State and we had 600 yesterday. We have families struggling just to get by, counting every euro. We have communities that feel entirely unsafe. We have a lot of work to do and the Government has a lot of questions to answer, yet the Taoiseach has not shown up. This is wholly unacceptable and we do not accept the proposition. Government Members waxed lyrical yesterday about the incoming Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris. Apparently, he was going to do in ten months what they failed to do in 13 years. It was all about moving mountains and getting straight to work and, today, he has not shown up. That is an absolute disgrace.

See this speech in context