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

That brings strength, particularly at times like these, when we see significant change in leadership and ministerial roles. I am confident this Government will see out its term because it has a Cabinet that works collectively. My Cabinet colleagues know this; you respect each other, listen to each other and work together. We will dearly miss Deputy Michael McGrath. Three things that are noteworthy about Michael in my experience over the years. He first came to public prominence in that difficult time from 2007 to 2010. He was one of the people you would see on television discussing the financial crash, a harrowing period. He brought a calm authority and a sense that, thank god someone can explain some of this to us, which was important at the time. He had a good understanding of economics and finance and the everyday way of explaining it in a way that was not panicked or stressed. Second, history will be kind in looking at that period during Covid and the Ukrainian war, during which there was a cost-of-living crisis. Collectively, with Paschal, the two together were able to put in place significant financial transfers to protect our people, support businesses, provide social welfare and other increases. There was a huge stimulus. People said all those billions would not be deployed but they were. The two together managed our public finances in a way that saw us through a difficult economic period. It was difficult in every way, not just economic. Third, and perhaps most importantly, in the past two years in his role as Minister for Finance, he set us on a course where we invest in the future Ireland funds that protect us from what has cursed this country over the decades - boom and bust - and not being able to do counter-cyclical investments. What Paschal and he, in particular, as Minister for Finance, in setting up those future funds will be important. We will miss him but the whole union will benefit from him being in Brussels, where I expect the European Green Deal to be at the centre of the future economic strategy. It is our only competitiveness play and our only way of getting security and addressing the biggest ecological crisis challenge of our time.

My first memory of Deputy Chambers is that he was, in effect, replacing Brian Lenihan Jnr. Those were not small boots to fill. It was not an easy thing to replace Brian Lenihan Jnr. in Dublin West. He is another hero of that time. As the media reported in recent days, Jack and I have worked together in the Department of Transport and have had our differences but that makes him qualified for what is to come. We were able to overcome differences and still get on. As Minister of Finance, more than anything else, you need to be able to say no. It cannot be no, nay, never. It has to be no, maybe, okay. Then, you have to maintain the relationship and get over the fight, challenge and difference and work a way through. In the past two years, what I have seen him do gives me confidence that with him as Minister for Finance, we will be able to agree a budget. The one red line on the budget is that it must protect the most vulnerable, as our last four budgets have. If the budget does not do that, it is not agreed in our Cabinet. We have to protect the diversion of money into those future funds. We cannot dip into what Michael has set up because it is in the national interest, even though it may not be popular.

It cannot be a giveaway budget that takes from the future to pay for political gain today. We have eight months to go. As a Cabinet, we work collectively to deliver as best we can.

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