Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I would like to be associated with the note of congratulations to all those who allowed their name go forward for election but were not successful on this occasion. I single out former Senator Alan Kelly, as his election is a great credit to him. He put significant work into his campaign and at 33 years of age, he is the youngest person from this island being sent to represent us in the European Parliament. I congratulate him, his Labour colleagues, the Labour Party leader and the Fine Gael Party leader on a great election. It was certainly Labour and Fine Gael's weekend.

I commiserate with all the councillors from all parties around the country who lost their seats. It is not an easy thing to put one's name forward and some of these people were long-serving and hard-working councillors, and for them to not be elected is a huge personal loss. There is much upset on this side of the House because of the bad results in the various elections, particularly with regard to the Fianna Fáil Party.

We have a mandate from the Irish people to continue governing this State well. It is easy to oppose, particularly at this time, but our Government has an immensely difficult task in getting this country back on track. Every day unpopular decisions must be taken and the Government is in no way shirking its responsibilities. I commend it for its patriotism, hard work and the ability to put the nation's need before short-term party advantage. I would welcome a debate with the various political parties setting out their stalls on where we will go in future in these difficult economic times.

As with Senator Twomey, I would welcome a debate on the Lisbon treaty and now is the time to start it. I am glad we are seeing the end of the Libertas group today.