Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

It was wonderful to watch the results coming in last night, to see the engagement of people with politics and to see the people queueing for long hours to vote. I do not think we would have the same patience here if we had to endure a five-hour queue. It was a wonderful moment for democracy and it was tremendous to see the engagement of Mr. Obama with young people and minorities across the divide. Obviously his work begins now. However, it was a fantastic campaign and it was wonderful to see the hope and joy people expressed last night. I hope we will have a presidential visit here. We saw the excitement, inspiration and motivation that such visits provided in the past. Certainly in this election campaign we saw many barriers transcended, including sexism, ageism and racism. I thought John McCain's concession speech last night was very gracious and inclusive.