Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Just more than 50% of the population has completed higher level education and that has doubled in just 20 years. More pupils than at any point in the past century are being taught as Gaeilge. We are living much longer now, with an average life expectancy of 82 years. We are healthier than we have ever been and, for example, smoking is at the lowest level in 50 years. Deputy Smith may not know this but Irish people are now living 25 years longer than they were 100 years ago. Some 20,000 fewer people die in Ireland every year than died a century ago. Our population has grown by 50%. Cancer mortality rates have been declining for the past 30 years while death from heart disease has decreased by two thirds in the past 40 years. In the past 50 years, public health spending has increased. I could go on.

See this speech in context