Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)

The Government was rudderless, a situation I hope we will not see again.

We now have an extremely strong Government which, as somebody said, is almost a national Government. I hope, collectively, all Members of the Oireachtas will work towards the betterment of the country. We have a long way to go but we have made a good start. Tús maith, leath na hoibre. I commend the start the Government has made.

Like some on the other side of the House, I am impatient and want to see things happen more quickly. I want to see some decisions made on matters we all seem to be able to identify as needing to be addressed. We are frustrated that sometimes the decision making process takes too long. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Costello, and all his Cabinet colleagues to keep the pressure on and maintain the good start that was made by the Government, led by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. I wish them continued success but they should not rest on their laurels.

As we saw recently, the gains and achievements after the first year in government are modest. I hope by the time we celebrate the second anniversary we will have made it significantly more progress and more people will be at work, and we will gradually get to a situation where many of the people who have emigrated over the past couple of years or so will start to return to our country.