Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The ball is in. The Taoiseach announced the beginning of the general election campaign this morning. I was listening to his contribution in the Dáil. He was in and out like a man in the night and did not give the Opposition leaders any opportunity to speak or indeed to wish retiring Deputies, particularly those on the Opposition side, well in the future. Perhaps on reflection, that was the wrong thing to do. He also forgot to mention the date of the election, which I thought was quite amazing. He picked up on it later on Twitter on the way to Áras an Uachtaráin and he tweeted the date of the election in very unfamiliar fashion. No doubt, we are now in election territory.

The first thing I would like to do is wish all of the candidates, particularly those from within this House, the very best of luck. It will be a short campaign. It is an important election, as is every general election. The people will have the opportunity to reflect on some of the policies of the various parties. This morning, we think about some of the promises that were made in the early days of the 2011 campaign. One of those promises, which impacted heavily on my colleague's constituency, related to Roscommon County Hospital and we know what happened there. All parties should consider not making promises that they cannot fulfil. If that proves possible, they would be doing the State some service.