Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----that was aimed at addressing the important issues that face Ireland, Europe and the world at a very difficult time. Things have got complicated since. We all understand that, in the aftermath of an election, there can be a period that is difficult for parties who had sought and perhaps expected to gain more but did not. We have been there too. I know what it feels like. However, it is incumbent on all of us to try to work together for the betterment of the Irish people. There is now a challenge that is greater than any we might have expected prior to the election. That is the looming tariffs coming from the United States and the impact these will have on all our communities and on our economy as a whole. I do not want to lecture anybody. We all go through an electoral cycle, see the outcome and have to work through that. However, I hope that we have reached an impasse today and that the vote that will take place later this evening will draw a line in the sand and allow all of us to move on. It should also allow the Opposition to do what it does very well and what it did very well for the last five years, which is to hold Government to account and to identify the positives, the negatives and often the failures. However, let us try to do that in a manner that recognises the challenges we face and gives us all the capacity to respond to the looming economic crisis by sharing the problems, working through them and finding solutions. It is not beyond this side of the House to look to good ideas coming from the other side. Great ideas are not the preserve of any one political party. In holding a government to account, an opposition can clearly have an input but it should not be what we saw last week. Again, I do not want to lecture anyone but it should not be about haranguing or barracking anybody. I hope we have moved past that at this stage.

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