Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an gCeann Comhairle mar gheall ar a post nua agus gabhaim buíochas le Seán Ó Fearghaíl as an bpost iontach a rinne sé thar na blianta freisin. I thank the good people of County Meath for the opportunity to represent them in this Dáil. It is an honour and a privilege to be a TD, especially for a great county such as Meath.

The year 2024 has been a good one for Aontú. We successfully fought two referendums. We won council seats. We surpassed the Labour Party, the Social Democrats and People Before Profit in votes in the European elections. We challenged the establishment parties in the elections in the North of Ireland. We achieved a doubling of our vote in the elections just gone by. Indeed, we had the highest increase in votes for any political party since 2020 in those elections. We have added to our Dáil tally with Deputy Paul Lawless, helping to redraw the political map of County Mayo. I welcome him to the Dáil. I thank the nearly 100,000 people who voted for us in this election. The progress in those votes in down to the candidates, members and activists of Aontú; buíochas ó chroí uaim.

It has been three weeks since the general election. A frustration is growing among the general public regarding the slow progress of government formation. A number of Opposition parties have no real interest in getting into government, yet are taking part in government formation talks. Even today, the largest Opposition party has put Mary Lou McDonald forward for the position of Taoiseach, full sure in the knowledge there is no chance that can happen. It is the case that we have many bread-and-butter issues affecting our society at the moment. They need delivery. They do not need pointless and meaningless theatre. I agree with Mary Lou McDonald that it would be damaging to put Fine Gael back into government for what would cumulatively be 19 years. It is also important that Sinn Féin fully rules out negotiations with Fine Gael on the next government. It has not done that to date.

The Tánaiste spoke of his party being against short-termism. There is no doubt that this Government does not do short-termism. Most of the infrastructural projects in the country are grinding to a glacial halt at present. The Government is now talking about coming back on 22 January. To come back two months after the general election to potentially get started on the jobs of work is way too late. Urgency is not just for general elections. Urgency should be for governments as well.

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