Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

You can be sure of one thing - they were not saying it was a good day for politics.

I have confidence in the Ceann Comhairle. I have confidence in a young girl who left school when she was 15 years of age. I have confidence in a young woman who went to England and worked hard in multiple jobs. I have confidence in a young woman, who, at the age of 21, bought a truck and trailer and took to the road to make a living. I have confidence in a woman who became the first female Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil. I have confidence in her ability to carry out that work in a fair and impartial way.

I have confidence in the Clerk of this Dáil and the people who work here, whose work has been questioned live on television. That is wrong. Those people are above all reproach. They are respectable people who are here impartially, and they are doing a good job.

What is going to happen after the vote? We have heard the Opposition saying it will not co-operate with pairings and it will do everything it can to be disruptive. What will the people of Ireland think of that when our Minister for agriculture, for instance, is going to have to work hard renegotiating a new Common Agriculture Policy, CAP, deal? What will happen when the Minister for Foreign Affairs has to leave the country? Will the people of Ireland thank the Opposition if it will not pair and will not roll up its sleeves and do the job it is supposed to do, which is to work on behalf of the people of Ireland?

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