Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion of confidence in the Ceann Comhairle. She retains my full confidence. As the democratically elected Chair of this House, she deserves the respect of all its Members. She was democratically elected. As a former colleague of hers on the Committee of Public Accounts, I know of her work rate and her commitment to fairness, due procedure and full accountability. I know she will implement that as Ceann Comhairle. Regardless of whether you support the Government or the Opposition, there are very great challenges facing our country and, indeed, the entire world. There is the threat of tariffs on goods, issues of global security and armed conflicts that affect this country indirectly. Both the Government and the Opposition must move on with the business of tackling these issues. We must not see a repeat of what happened last week. The matter of speaking rights has been subject to 20 hours of debate at the Dáil reform committee. It is now time to move on and deal with the setting up of committees, particularly the Committee of Public Accounts but also the health committee, the committee on agriculture and a range of other committees we need to have up and running. This also gives the Opposition an opportunity to scrutinise what is happening in Departments and have Ministers before them. None of that is happening at present. It is therefore a priority that we now move on. We have major challenges and it is important that these are dealt with by all of us working together in the Oireachtas to make sure we deliver for the people who elected us.

See this speech in context