Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge what the Deputy has said about the US presidential election. Given the strength of the economic relationship between the United States and Ireland it is a very important relationship. More than 200,000 jobs are provided by US companies in Ireland directly, with many more indirectly. Irish companies provide approximately 100,000 jobs in America and more indirectly. This Government has weathered many significant economic shocks. We have had to navigate Brexit and the aftermath of Brexit. We have had to deal with the first pandemic in 100 years, and we did. We had to deal with the inflation that came after it with the post-Covid inflationary spike, which was exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the first war on European soil since the Second World War. As a country and a government, we have weathered very severe economic shocks.

There are terrible wars in Sudan, the Middle East and Ukraine. The German Government has collapsed. The world is in turmoil and we need to have a government that can manage and navigate that for the next five years. I will give consideration to what the Deputy said. There are many subjective views there and governments need-----

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