Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Taoiseach. Our first business is the nomination of a new Taoiseach, on which I will now receive motions. I understand Deputy Bruton has a proposal to put to the House.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Tairgim:

Go n-ainmneoidh Dáil Éireann an Teachta Leo Varadkar chun a cheaptha ag an Uachtarán mar Thaoiseach.

I move:

That Dáil Éireann nominates Deputy Leo Varadkar for appointment by the President to be Taoiseach.

It was Samuel Johnson who said, "The Irish are a fair people; they never speak well of one another." On most measures, this House would be particularly fair-minded. However, I think I detected a slight quiver in that fair-mindedness today, with genuine warmth for the job the Taoiseach has done. As we pass 100 years as a democracy, as the Ceann Comhairle pointed out recently, we have a very proud record of sustaining democracy throughout a very difficult period. Today, perhaps, we have a more modern and more discerning electorate than we have ever had before. It has high expectations of politicians and it demands the highest standards. That is really important.

When I entered this House, we did, indeed, have rotating taoisigh between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. They changed nearly every nine months and every change was punctuated by a costly and difficult election. It broke many of our colleagues here who wanted to contest those elections. Today, we have a very different transition.

Deputy Micheál Martin has handed on his legacy in superb condition. His instinct for finding solutions in the face of Covid and then Ukraine have shown the quality of the leadership he has offered.

Today is the 15th time I have been involved in the election of a Taoiseach, but the first I have had the honour to make a nomination. The essential ingredients to do this job well are three things: strength of character, courage and restless curiosity. The Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, has exactly those features. His strong character has been formed by being the proud son of an Indian father and an Irish mother, by being part of a family devoted to care as doctors and nurses and by his experience in five Departments, namely, health, social protection, enterprise, transport, tourism and sport, and defence; before becoming the youngest Taoiseach ever at the age of 38.

He has demonstrated his courage and resilience time and again, most notably in launching the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment. He held his nerve in the high-wire Brexit manoeuvring in which so much was at stake for our country and island. He provided reassurance as he led us on the uncharted path after Covid. Seldom if ever did an acting Taoiseach have to make decisions of such grave import.

As a Minister, I felt the value of his restless curiosity and foresight. Without him, we could not have had the national broadband plan that I was proud to be a part of. Without him we could not have had the first climate action plan in 2019. That could not have been put in place. One of the important capacities of someone holding the office of Taoiseach is to know when it is important to stretch people beyond their comfort zone to take on challenges they would perhaps prefer not to. In both those cases, he showed that capacity. That capacity will be so important as we face difficult challenges in the future.

Bernard Shaw said we are made wise not by the recollection of the past but by the responsibility for the future. Ireland continues to transform rapidly but faces grave challenges that we all know about in this House, and does so at a time of enormous global uncertainty. The challenge for the Government in the remainder of its term is to keep in harness together enterprise success, fairness in society and sustainability in our way of life. No one of those can find enduring success without each of the others. That is what the person taking on the role of Taoiseach must ensure. This Government offers the right partnership to confront those three challenges and the Tánaiste is the right person to step into the position of Taoiseach in the next phase of those challenges. It is with great pride that I nominate for the position of Taoiseach the name of the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy. I understand Deputy Higgins wants to second that proposal.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I do indeed. I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

In 2020 as the Covid crisis first hit our shores, the Tánaiste led our country through the most difficult months. He showed what a fine Taoiseach he was through his focus on the well-being of our citizens, his clear plan to deal with the crisis and, above all, his commitment to forming a Government to lead. Tomorrow people across the world will tune in to the World Cup final to find out who the winning team is but today we reaffirm in Ireland that in Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party we have our winning team.

The Tánaiste will take over as Taoiseach of an historic coalition, one which shows how far we have come since the Civil War. It is testament to both party leaders that we see the successors of these two sides share and pass on power. Today is an example of our country being at peace with it Civil War history and today proves that coalition works.

This day next week, a certain someone will leave the North Pole to deliver to boys and girls and that is exactly what this Government has done - deliver. It has delivered through challenges that were absolutely unforeseeable back in 2020: a global pandemic, a war on European soil and a cost-of-living crisis. With strong, steady, stable leadership we are navigating through these unchartered waters. It is a Government Deputy Micheál Martin has led so responsibly and with such compassion and one the Green Party has ensured always operates through a lens of action on climate change. People want a functioning, responsible Government that gets on with the work at hand and that is exactly what this Government has done. It supported businesses when they needed help most, protected workers through ground-breaking legislation, and delivered record employment against a global backdrop of uncertainty.

The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has delivered for rural Ireland. She has invested in communities throughout the island and protected our most vulnerable and our over-70s. The €11 billion budget of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, protected households and his influence has put us at the centre of Europe. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, led us through the choppy waters of Brexit with a whole-of-Ireland approach. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has made third level education more accessible and apprenticeships more attractive. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, has been creating stronger, safer communities throughout Ireland. Her second son, less than one week old, will shortly have lived through his second Taoiseach. He grows up in an Ireland that punches far above its weight on the international stage and in an Ireland that offers opportunity, not just to our own people, but to those who want to call here home.

It can be so easy to be blinded by the empty rhetoric of opposition politics that paints Ireland as a bleak country on the outskirts of Europe. Optimism is never the hallmark of opposition politics but this Opposition has been populist, pessimistic and divisive. Ireland is a reflection of its people. It is a nation of céad míle fáilte, decency and kindness, a hard-working ethos and fairness. It is our people that this Government serves and that Deputy Leo Varadkar will lead as Taoiseach, and serve them he will.

Some 28,000 new homes have been delivered this year and we will continue to build more. People will pay lower income tax next year than this year and we will continue to put more money back in people's pockets. Public transport costs have been slashed and we will continue to invest in our roads, buses and trainlines. Childcare costs will be reduced next year and we will continue to invest in those early years. Hospital inpatient charges have been abolished and we will tackle waiting lists. There are more gardaí on our streets today than last year and we will always prioritise law and order.

This Government will continue to focus on reality rather than populism; on hope rather than pessimism and on unity rather than division because that is how leadership looks. Ireland needs a leader that will provide stability and division. Deputy Leo Varadkar did that for us last time round and I know he will do that for us again. It is my absolutely honour to second Deputy Leo Varadkar's nomination for Taoiseach. I know he will do our party, our country and our people proud. Go n-éirí an bóthar leis.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to share my time with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath.

Ar son pháirtí Fhianna Fáil, deimhneoidh mé go mbeimid de réir an chomhaontaithe daingnithe ag ár mbaill ag vótáil ar son ainmniúcháin an Tánaiste, an Teachta Varadkar, le dul os comhair an Uachtaráin le ceapadh go hoifig an Taoisigh. Is cinneadh agus gníomh tábhachtach agus daonláthach iad seo agus is céim eile í a léiríonn go fíorshoiléir tiomantas agus díograis na dtrí pháirtí sa Rialtas ár gclár oibre agus aidhmeanna aontaithe roinnte a chríochnú ar son mhuintir na hÉireann.

At the start of this Dáil, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party negotiated a detailed and ambitious programme of action for the full duration of the Dáil's term. The formation of this Government was unique for Ireland but not internationally. It saw three parties with different traditions and priorities agree to work together.

No party or Deputy in this House has a mandate to claim to represent the views of all Irish people or to demand exclusive control of public policies for themselves. The distinguishing feature of centrist democrats is the ability to respect differences, find points of agreement and co-operate. This is what we have done.

The programme for Government, which remains in place, and the arrangements that we are voting on today were put to free votes in our three parties. Within Fianna Fáil, every member received a copy of relevant documents and had an opportunity to participate in a widespread debate. The vote that we held was the largest vote ever held by an Irish political party, and the result was overwhelmingly in favour of this Government. Today represents the first time in Irish history that there is a change in the Office of An Taoiseach which was agreed well in advance and is supported by the membership of the parties involved. It reflects our shared commitment that each party be treated fairly, in light of its mandate, and that we build a Government defined by co-operation.

During the past two and a half years, I have worked closely with the Tánaiste, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Our discussions have been open, honest and comprehensive. We have insisted on a constructive approach to the work of Government. To be a Government Deputy in Dáil Éireann brings with it practical challenges. I know that the often limited opportunities to contribute at key moments here in the Chamber can be a frustration. However, the opinions of those who do not hold office and those who they represent must be heard. I want to acknowledge the openness of the other party leaders in Government to hearing and acknowledging the views of our Deputies. Because of the system of Cabinet committees that has been put in place, there is detailed consultation and debate about the full range of issues that come before Government. I believe that this core respect has been a defining feature of the Government and it is one which will continue through our term.

During the debate on the nomination of Deputies for appointment as members of Government, I will go into more substantial detail about our work over the rest of our term. It is important, however, to say that we are fully conscious of the challenges which our country faces and how they continue to change. The dramatic increase in inflation, seen throughout the world because of Russia's war against Ukraine, and the disruption up many supply chains is not an abstract economic concern; it is hitting people very directly and their ability to pay for essential items. As we showed in the budget, we are determined to keep helping people with this critical new challenge. Addressing the deep impact of the pandemic in vital areas, such as hospital waiting times and the construction of new homes will remain to central to our agenda. We have restored our economy faster than any country in Europe and we have helped people back to work. We have begun a new era in social and affordable housing and we are implementing a comprehensive strategy to address all elements of housing provision. We have put in place action on the existential threat of climate change and the loss of biodiversity. We have begun the development of new health services in every part of our country. We have reduced class sizes, increased supports for children with special needs, funded the largest investment programme in the history of Irish education and established a new Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. We have begun the expansion of childcare and the introduction of new direct State support with childcare costs.

However, we have much further to go during the remaining period of our mandate. The reality of modern politics in Ireland is that there is a choice between those who work to exploit problems and those who work to solve them, between those who pretend that there are easy answers to even the most complex problems and those committed to the much harder work of action on many fronts. My party and the Government we belong to will continue to use every day of our mandate to work on behalf of all the people. When our programme is completed I have no doubt that we will be in a position to show sustained progress on the issues that matter most to the Irish people. In supporting the motion to nominate the Tánaiste, Deputy Leo Varadkar, I want to thank him for his co-operation over the last two and half years and for his dedicated work. The Government has worked under many enormous pressures, but we have succeeded in keeping our focus on moving our country forward. I look forward to maintaining this spirit during the rest of our term.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset, I wish to join with colleagues in conveying my own personal deepest sympathies to the family of the late Private Seán Rooney on their devastating loss, and to send my very best wishes to Private Shane Kearney and his family as his battle continues today.

Today's proceedings are an historic occasion in the history of our nation. It is the first time, during a Dáil term, where the Members of the House are being asked to approve the rotation of the Office of An Taoiseach between two parties within Government.

It is symbolic of the diverse political landscape in which we now live and the maturity of the three parties which comprise this Government. That it is being undertaken without either drama or rancour is indicative of the stability and the unity of this Government.

Since coming to office almost two and a half years ago, the Government has been charged with the responsibility of taking the country through a set of extraordinary global challenges: a once-in-a-century pandemic, a terrible war in Europe and a consequential cost-of-living crisis facing our people. We have been deeply fortunate to have been led by a Taoiseach of the calibre of Micheál Martin.

At so many difficult moments in the past couple of years, Micheál Martin's integrity, experience and innate decency have shown through. When it came to work ethic, his commitment was absolute. When the Government he led was faced with major decisions, his guiding principle was to do what was right for the country and for its people, and this was never more evident than during Covid-19. On the international stage, his commitment to multilateral co-operation and finding solutions through dialogue is widely recognised and valued and I know his wife, Mary, Micheál Aodh, Aoibhe, Cillian and all of his siblings and extended family and, indeed, the community from which he comes, are so rightly proud of all that he has achieved as Taoiseach. On behalf of all of my colleagues in the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party and our party members all over the country, and on behalf of so many ordinary members of the public of every political persuasion and of none who respected his approach, I thank Micheál Martin for being an outstanding Taoiseach of this country.

I also wish Deputy Leo Varadkar all the very best as he embarks on his second term as Taoiseach. As leader of the Government, he will have our full support and the support of our coalition partners, the Green Party, as well, as we work collectively to tackle the issues that are most important to the people who we are privileged to served, first and foremost of which is building the homes our people need - social, affordable, cost-rental and private homes. This is a top priority for all of Government and we will leave no stone unturned to make tangible progress over the next two years plus.

Thankfully, the speed and the depth of the recovery of the Irish economy after Covid has surpassed all expectations. Today, we have more people working than at any point in our country's history and an unemployment rate at an historic low. Last September, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and I introduced a budget with €11 billion of new measures, primarily aimed at supporting businesses and supporting households through this exceptionally difficult period of high inflation. We did this while not taking on any additional borrowing as a country, committing €6 billion to a national reserve fund, and projecting a budget surplus this year and next. In addition, over a series of three budgets, we committed record investment in housing, health and childcare, more teachers and special needs assistants, SNAs, and historic levels of public capital investment to build more schools, hospitals and better public transport. Every day in this Chamber, we hear more calls for more investment and more spending and this is only possible where we have a strong economy and well-managed public finances. That is why this Government will continue to support business, support jobs and manage the nation's finances with care. As an open economy, we are not immune from the global economic downturn but we are better positioned than most to withstand its effects. While politics in many countries has been beset by the populism of the left and the right, I believe that Ireland has prospered through careful implementation of evidence-based policy.

The principles that underpinned this coalition for the first half of its term - trust, mutual respect, parity of esteem and good personal relationships - will continue in the second half. At a time of such uncertainty and turmoil in the world, Ireland needs a strong and stable Government that works day in and day out for the people of our country. With the support of this House, that is the commitment we make to the Irish people today.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Today is an important day. For 100 years, we have operated as a democracy.

It is important we follow the constitutional order today in electing a Taoiseach and a new Cabinet and Government. The metaphor I was using is that it is like half time. The captain's armband will be passed from one to the other but it will be a similar team and I am certain that on Monday morning Tánaiste Micheál Martin will be running out with the rest of us, determined to do everything we can to serve the people. I spoke in the Convention Centre two and a half years ago about the qualities he has that I believed would make him a good Taoiseach. Any assessment, historic or even current, will find that expectation to have been correct.

We have work to do. We retain and double down on the programme for Government we wrote two and a half years ago in a time of real crisis. Before I continue I will mention one person who, as the Taoiseach said, will not be continuing in that team but who has done an incredible job, namely, outgoing Attorney General, Paul Gallagher. We were joking at Cabinet on Tuesday. The Minister for Foreign Affairs was saying every time we get the Security Council the world is in crisis, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to 9/11 and now the war in Ukraine. I said that every time Paul Gallagher takes the Attorney General's office he has to deal with a crisis. During the financial crisis he served this State in a way that was hugely significant for the benefit of our people. Again, what he has done in the past two years to protect the constitutional rights but also to drive what we call the system to push for speed and flexibility in everything we do is a huge record of achievement he leaves behind. I thank him personally and on behalf of our party for the incredible work he has done.

We have work to do. If I was to simplify one of the key characteristics of what is in our programme for Government and what we need to do now, I would say we need a bigger State. We need more of our Republic working collectively in this democratic, constitutional way. This is because we are beset by issues that require real effort, real commitment and real conviction and co-ordination of our efforts. We all know that first and foremost among those is housing our people and those who come to our shores seeking refuge or opportunity. That will not be easy but I am certain we will do everything we can to provide that housing. We have set up the mechanisms to allow the State step in where the market is not going to be able to succeed and while it is challenging and beset by all sorts of difficulties, we will deliver.

The second issue is health. The three key targets for this Government and the reform of our health service starts with the understanding the State is all of us. The State is every porter, nurse, consultant, clerk and every single person. The job of ourselves in Government, those in local government and the new CEO of the HSE is to allow each one of us to take up and step up our role in providing care for each other. It is to be creative and to do things differently. It is not just about how much money you throw at things but about how you make the best use of that money to deliver what we need.

In the next two years, the biggest change, the thing that is going to matter most, not just in those two years but for the next two or three decades, is what we do collectively as a country to tackle climate change, to improve our country as we do so, to tap into and rely on our own energy resources that protect us and give us greater security, as well as providing for a better environment. We must change Irish farming and forestry so we diversify and bring new income streams to encourage a whole new generation of people to come into this most important task of our time, which is to protect and restore nature, provide the food we need and maintain and restore the beautiful country we have the great joy to live in.

We must change. The biggest political challenge is going to be the very basic agreement at a local level in every council in the country about how we move around, how we avoid gridlock and how we create a sense of community by what is going to be a complete pivot in our transport system.

It will be a system change, as the OECD recommended in a report earlier this year, so that we build up that sense of community. We need to make Ireland a country which is socially just with everyone having access to the transport systems that we need.

Last but not least, in respect of climate change there is a new circular economy. We realise that the economy serves society and not the other way round. The root of the word "economy" is related to managing the home. As we all know, the home is not just about bricks and mortar; it is about having time to listen to the spirits in our hearts. How do we put an economic price on humour? We in government are committed to that.

I want to commend my Green Party colleagues, in particular. The protection of cultural institutions is as important as all of the other infrastructure that needs to be put in place. The value of caring work, which economics has never properly measured and priced, is central to what we need to do in providing this new economy.

How do we value and price the courage of protecting the peace? We all feel that this week, for Private Seán Rooney and his family and Trooper Shane Kearney. How do we measure that price? It is priceless. It is more important than everything else. It is what we stand for as a country and people. It is a path that carries real risks when people go out to uphold peace, but that is as important as any measure of economic success. That , more than anything else, is how we value ourselves as a country.

I mentioned the Taoiseach having done a good job. The baton is being passed on. I was slightly nervous when I met Leo's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Varadkar, coming in because I have been there in the past in terms of what were euphemistically described as robust exchanges with the Tánaiste, and please God, future Taoiseach. One thing Deputy Bruton said struck me. He said leaders need character, courage and curiosity. I thought of three other Cs. We need a Taoiseach to be clever and collegiate and, because cleverness alone does not work, to have compassion. I have worked closely with the Tánaiste in the past two and a half years and he has all those characteristics in spades.

What the Taoiseach said is true. We have worked on principles of trust. We have arguments. The attractive thing is that one does not always win the argument but one does not always lose. It is about the reasonableness of an argument, in my experience over the past two years. If one goes in with a willing case one has a good chance of winning one of the other two and carrying three over the line. We will continue that. We will come in for half-time, take a break tomorrow and hit the ground running again.

It is a time of real change in the world and an important time for our country. We will make mistakes. Lord knows, we are not without our flaws. This is a good functioning Government. We stand by our Constitution. We go with pride to Áras an Uachtaráin to seek our seals of office from the President and for two more years we will do everything we can to help and serve the Irish people, with Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I begin by wishing Teachta Martin all the very best as he exits the Office of An Taoiseach and his role at Cabinet changes. I wish you and yours a very happy and peaceful Christmas. For the past two and half years, we have debated the important issues facing Ireland and our people, and I have no doubt that you will greatly miss our engagements here on a Tuesday and Wednesday. I wish you well.

In his speech, Teachta Martin argued that this Government is successful and delivering. The rest of us must live in a very different Ireland from him.

We live in Ireland where, during his time leading Government, the housing emergency has gotten worse, the crisis in health has gotten worse and households struggle to get by. He now passes the baton to Deputy Varadkar at a time where more than 11,000 of our people our homeless, including more than 3,000 children. Close to 1 million people are on treatment waiting lists. Many working families queue at food banks to get a hot meal. Surely, this cannot count as success.

The Government said that there are no easy answers. However, that is not an acceptable response to those mothers frantic because their children wait for vital surgery, essential services and assessment of needs; to families distressed because they cannot pay the latest bill, the mortgage repayment or afford the rent; or to a child growing up in a bed and breakfast or a hotel room. There are no easy answers, but there are answers. There are solutions that a Government with the right priorities would grasp with both hands, but instead this Government chose to ignore them.

The policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, not only over the past two and half years but since they joined together in 2016 have driven these crises. To dress up their failure as progress is to insult ordinary people who live with the consequences of those failures. Rather than being accountable and facing up to reality, they point the fingers at others. They hide behind excuses and present alibis for not getting the work done. It is a cop-out so typical of the parties which have passed power between each other for a century.

Ireland is a great country – perhaps the greatest. Our people are great people who are achieving extraordinary things everyday, sometimes against all odds. What we need now is a Government worthy of them and worthy of their hopes and ambitions.

Sinn Féin does not support the nomination of Deputy Varadkar as Taoiseach. The policies of Fine Gael have always been about ring-fencing the wealth and privilege of those at the top, pushing workers and families to the back of the queue, and the privatisation and hallowing out of public services. This has not changed under the leadership of Deputy Varadkar. Fine Gael and Deputy Varadkar have been in government now for 11 years. Fine Gael and Deputy Varadkar’s policies are writ large across the crises in housing, healthcare and the deep economic inequalities in Ireland today.

It is no coincidence that during Fine Gael’s time in power people desperately struggle to put a roof over their heads. A generation is locked out of home ownership and renters have been fleeced by extortionate rent – an 82% increase since 2012. Housing policy is written for big developers, wealthy investors and corporate landlords. Fine Gael, of course, is the party that rolled out the red carpet for the cuckoo funds and the vulture funds. It could not wait to get them in, and now look at the damage being done.

Fine Gael’s refusal to accept housing as a basic right has seen the crisis escalate to an emergency so bad that it is now spread to impact education, healthcare and our economy. It is no coincidence either that our hospitals are under unprecedented strain, with a never-ending trolley crisis, record waiting lists and a struggle to recruit and retain staff. The chickens of Fine Gael’s failure to invest in and resource our health service have come back to roost and it is patients who pay the price.

We must remember that Deputy Varadkar has been at the centre of these crises, sitting at the Cabinet table for more than a decade, contributing to these terrible decisions, and eventually ascending to the office of An Taoiseach in 2017. We should not forget that Deputy Varadkar’s last Government ran out of road because of Fine Gael’s disastrous performance in the areas of health and housing, eventually falling to the prospect of a no-confidence vote in the then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris.

Nor should we forget that the revolving door of former Government Ministers into cushy jobs as lobbyists for banks and the insurance industry continued and thrived during Deputy Varadkar's term leading Government; from Cabinet to lobbyist in the blink of an eye.

It is no coincidence that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, is now ready to oversee the return of bumper pay to the top brass in the banks, backing the haves over the have-nots, showing up always for the insider class, looking after their friends in high places.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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What about friends in low places?

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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This has always been the Fine Gael way. It is the Leo Varadkar way. The episode that defines Leo Varadkar's last term as Taoiseach is his leaking of a confidential Government document to a friend, something that he admitted to on the floor of this Dáil. While criminal proceedings were not pursued on this matter, serious questions remain.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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How is Jonathan?

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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What was really worrying is that it is still Deputy Varadkar’s stated belief that he is somehow above having his actions questioned by the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO. Deputy Varadkar believes that power puts him beyond accountability. This is the view held by the man who now returns to the office of An Taoiseach, the man who recently told young people who were forced away from Ireland by his policies that the grass is not always greener in other countries. This is the man who invited exploited renters to remember that one person’s rent is another person's income. This is the man who advised a generation locked out of home ownership to borrow from their parents for a mortgage deposit, the bank of mammy and daddy. These are their views that emphasise loud and clear that Fine Gael and its friends in Fianna Fáil have been empowered for far too long-----

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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-----they are out of touch, out of ideas and out of time. Deputy Micheál Martin has resigned as Taoiseach and the Government is dissolved. We should now have a general election because we need a change of Government.

Tá a fhios againn cheana féin cad a fhaighimid leis an Teachta Varadkar mar Thaoiseach. Bhíomar anseo cheana. Diúltaíodh tithíocht agus cúram sláinte do dhaoine. Tá seirbhísí poiblí i ndroch-chaoi agus tá oibrithe agus teaghlaigh sáinnithe ag cúl na scuaine. Tá athrú Rialtais ag teastáil ag muintir na hÉireann, ní hamháin athrú Taoisigh.

We face real challenges but there is hope, positivity and ambition amongst our people. Ireland has big opportunities in the coming decades, namely, the re-unification of our country, the achievement of energy independence and the power of our young people. Capturing these opportunities is the key to Ireland reaching our greatest days. These days are on the horizon and will belong to everyone, but we will not get there with Deputy Varadkar as Taoiseach. We will not get there on the watch of this Government, but we can get there with a change in leadership and with a change in direction. With a change in Government, we will get there. Today, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, essentially the one party now, backed to the hilt by the Green Party, cling to power not in a demonstration of diversity or maturity, but as a demonstration of the claustrophobic sense of entitlement that above all else will work might and main to keep change out and to keep others out.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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What of the mandate of the Dáil?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is called democracy.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Make no mistake, they cannot prevent the new dawn breaking. The light of the better tomorrow burns brightly and they can stand in the way of change, they can refuse to budge, they can slow it down, they can make the people wait a little longer, but they cannot and they will not stop that change.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The touchpaper has been lit by the hopes of a new generation.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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With you in the hot seat.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The old ways are on borrowed time. Our future will be defined by equality, prosperity, unity and opportunity for all, building a strong, modern, vibrant all-Ireland economy. That is the future worth fighting for. It is a future that a Sinn Féin Government would work night and day to achieve for workers, for families, for communities and for Ireland.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I begin by extending a personal tribute to Deputy Micheál Martin on his public service and thanking him for the courtesy he has extended to me since I became a Deputy. I appreciate it. We all acknowledge that he took office at an unprecedented time of challenge, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, we have faced the additional enormous challenge of the fallout from Russia's brutal war on Ukraine and we are also facing this existential climate catastrophe which must be acknowledged. It must also be acknowledged that very few people get to choose of their own free will their time of stepping down as Taoiseach. For that alone, today is unique.

However, we in the Labour Party cannot support the Fine Gael nomination at this changeover time. We do not believe that this so-called changeover represents anything but a cosmetic change at a time when we need a real and substantial change in the policies and solutions proposed by the Government. We in the Labour Party know, as people across the country know, that this Government is not delivering an Ireland that works for all - an Ireland of equality. In 1919, more than 100 years ago, one of our party's founders, Thomas Johnson, wrote in the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, "It shall be the first duty of the Government of the Republic to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter". Important words, yet nearly 250,000 children today live in deprivation, with 3,480 children homeless and, a week from Christmas, far too many parents will struggle to heat homes this winter, put food on the table for their children or ensure that Santa will bring a gift.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, we have come through a once-in-a-century pandemic. We have seen the capacity of the State to pivot and deliver public services and radical change urgently. This Government, however, has failed to seize the opportunity to refashion housing provision, social infrastructure and the health service at a time of strong budget surpluses. The opportunity to transform our country and society has been squandered. Now is when we need a radical vision to bring about a real change in policy. A brutal war is being waged on our Continent, with tens of thousands killed in Ukraine and millions of refugees fleeing Russian aggression. A return of inflation is ravaging incomes and it is hitting those on low wages, pensions and social welfare the hardest. There are ominous signs of a slowdown, with job losses in the tech sector, while the stalling of construction projects is slowing down the building and delivery of new homes. Record heatwaves across Europe this summer are a sharp reminder of stalled progress and untenable delays on bringing about renewable energy and the action necessary to meet our ambitious climate targets. In 2020, we were told the programme for Government would invest in climate action and deliver a new energy system but, once again, a climate action plan for next year is delayed and there is no sign of the necessary reductions in emissions that need to be delivered now and next year.

When the outgoing Taoiseach was nominated two and a half years ago, we were told the test of the Government would be one of delivery. That is the right test but, on all the key measures of delivery and success, this Government has failed. Homelessness is up. Healthcare waiting lists are up and carbon emissions are up. Too many children have inadequate homes. Too many children with autism lack appropriate school places, or any school places. Too many parents are unable to find an affordable home or a suitable childcare or early years place, with no sign of promised reductions in crèche fees and crèches closing. Too many workers remain on low and insecure pay or stuck in traffic jams without decent public transport options. As we face into winter, too many older people remain deeply anxious about heating their homes or getting the care they need. Ireland remains far too dependent on fossil fuels, with surging use of energy in data centres and the failure to build the offshore wind generation capacity that we have been promised for so long and which is so sorely needed.

The failure of delivery on so many fronts should have re-fashioned the agenda and policies of the Government. Instead, what we are seeing with today's cosmetic changeover is a programme for Government that is unchanged, with no new ambitions and the same complacency. At the midway point of this coalition, why is there no substantive revision in policy? Why are we seeing a programme for Government that remains out of step with the changed world? Why are the same Ministers being retained in Departments where they are simply not delivering the necessary change?

Perhaps the new Taoiseach will surprise us later today with more dramatic changes than expected. However, unless the policies of the Government and the programme for Government are revised, there will be no change in the delivery and lack of delivery.

The Government has been plagued by resignations, instability and ethical concerns. We know, or we can predict at this stage, that the Tánaiste will return to the office of Taoiseach. On a personal level, I wish him very well. However, his party has spent too long in government and has run out of ideas. In the seven years Fine Gael has been in government since the 2016 general election, it has singularly failed to resolve the housing crisis. Indeed, it has made it worse, with an ideological insistence on an over-reliance on the private sector to deliver homes. It is a delivery that is simply not happening. We have seen a catalogue of unforced errors by Ministers, while talented backbenchers apparently remain blocked from taking high office.

The erosion of standards in public office has accelerated in more recent years under the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil Government. A laissez-faireapproach to ethics rules and appointment processes and the growing habit and tendency to centralise power with Ministers and to ram legislation through the Oireachtas, as was done this week with the planning legislation, points to a growing arrogance and complacency. There has been no progress on the Public Sector Standards Bill first developed by Deputy Howlin, which would have overhauled ethics legislation and standards in public office. Yesterday, we saw the outgoing Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform issue a press release announcing approval of a report on the ethics review. However, we still have no draft law, despite the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, asking repeatedly for more powers and despite multiple scandals in recent years. Today, the Labour Party is putting the Government on notice of the need to act urgently on ethics reform. We will be pressing this in the new year.

When the Dáil last gathered to elect a Taoiseach, I was not a Member. The only electoral contest since the coalition was formed delivered a clear rebuke to the Punch and Judy politics of Fine Gael versus Sinn Féin. The Dublin Bay South by-election result in July 2021 showed the public desire for a more constructive, positive and left-wing alternative to the status quo. It was a demand for strong State intervention on housing, care, climate and jobs. That demand is the reason the Labour Party, in 2020, made clear we could not support or form part of the Government formation. The permanent improvements in public services and increased State investment we wanted to see would require commitment to a change in tax policy, particularly on wealth. Our view of this was confirmed by the recent report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare. Yet, in 2020 and since then, both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have consistently ruled out changes in tax policy, thereby limiting scope for the Government to deliver transformational change. In particular, they have consistently ruled out the necessary increase in State investment in services. We know, therefore, that they cannot deliver the necessary change, particularly on housing but also on care, climate and building communities.

Throughout the course of this Dáil, the Labour Party has put forward constructive, social democratic and socialist alternative policies. We have worked to deliver change from the Opposition and we will continue to outline our vision of an Ireland that works for all. On workers' rights, we proposed legislation on sick pay, a living wage, a real right to flexible working and pay rises for workers. On housing, our renters' rights Bill would have limited the grounds for eviction and would have frozen rents. Our Bill to implement the Kenny report would end land speculation and hoarding. On care, we have championed student nurses, community and care workers and a public universal childcare scheme. On climate, we have argued for radical measures, including a €9 a month climate ticket and genuinely ambitious State action on emissions. More generally on reform, we have argued for a ban on gambling advertising, reform of our citizenship rules, rights for co-habiting couples and a national autism strategy.

On the economy, our fully costed budgets and cost-of-living measures would have put this country on a pathway to delivering real equality. That is the sort of Ireland the Labour Party wants to see - an Ireland that works for all. That is why, in the next election, we will offer a clear vision and alternative to both narrow nationalism and right-wing orthodoxy and ideology. We will offer a social democratic, socialist alternative to the Punch and Judy show. It is a show that may grab headlines but it will not deliver change. I have always believed that social and economic rights and social and economic equality are two sides of the same coin. That is why I joined the Labour Party. Campaigning for economic justice and standing up for those struggling to make ends meet are core to the vision and values of our party.

Today, as we see the failure of the market-knows-all polices of the Government, we know the Labour Party values of equality, solidarity and fairness are needed more than ever.

That is why today we will not be supporting the Fine Gael nomination for Taoiseach and why we believe that, instead of cosmetic change, we need to see real and substantial change in Ireland.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I start my contribution by going back in time to 27 June 2020, the day Deputy Micheál Martin became Taoiseach. Back then the Dáil business was conducted in the convention centre, as we well remember, and the country was in strict lockdown. It was so strict his family were not able to be with him on that important day for them and for him. I acknowledge he led by example on that occasion and throughout the crisis. We are all grateful for that.

Deputy Martin has always viewed the office of Taoiseach and the awesome responsibility it entails with the respect and reverence it deserves and has undoubtedly worked very hard as Taoiseach. That hard work and gruelling schedule necessitated many personal sacrifices for him and his family, which he spoke about earlier. It is important to acknowledge that. Politics is all-consuming and family life and personal relationships can sometimes bear the brunt of that.

Usually when a Taoiseach steps down, the exit route is clear and the door closes behind a life in full-time politics. The role of rotating Taoiseach is very different, as we see today. Instead of an exit route, it is more like a roundabout with the Government going around in circles. Crucially, there is no real change in direction and there will not be after today. The new Taoiseach, when appointed, will not veer from the course set by the programme for Government. That is why the Social Democrats will not be supporting the nomination for Taoiseach of Deputy Varadkar. We cannot support the programme for Government, which is a failure and has failed to deliver for people who most need support. This is especially true when it comes to housing.

A statistic which exemplifies the Fianna Fáil and Fine-Gael failure when it comes to the housing disaster is that between 2004 and 2021 the proportion of young people in their late 20s still living in their childhood bedrooms increased from 36% to 61%, the highest increase in young people being forced to continue to live at home anywhere in the European Union. That is a fact. Is it any wonder, then, that the recent EUROSTAT poll revealed that Irish young people are among those who express the most dissatisfaction with life anywhere in the EU? In the majority of EU countries, life satisfaction is higher among young people than older people, but the reverse is true in Ireland. It gives me no pleasure to say this, but Ireland is no country for young people. We all know the reasons for that. Young people cannot afford the exorbitant cost of living in Ireland and the Government has not helped with that.

Rents in Dublin are now at an astronomical €2,300 per month, or €28,000 per year. In the rest of the country, rents have also climbed to record highs of €1,600 per month, or €19,200 per year. The minimum wage is €21,294. If you are living outside of Dublin, you have the grand total of €2,094 per annum to live on after rent. That is €40 per week. It is now impossible for young people living in Dublin to survive on the minimum wage, or even, for many people, on very good wages.

Throughout his tenure, the outgoing Taoiseach repeatedly said the housing disaster is the biggest societal problem we face. I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment but I prefer to deal with facts and not sentiment. It is not evident the Government is treating the housing disaster as the emergency it is. All it has to cling to is a list of targets that were set in the Housing for All plan and which are now, as we all know, woefully inadequate and out of date.

People cannot live in or on targets. They need houses they can afford, whether those houses are to rent or to buy.

It is not just about bricks and mortar. The price of the housing crisis is being paid by 3,480 children losing their childhoods as they grow up in emergency accommodation, by the relationships that breakdown because of the stress of housing insecurity, by the couples who postpone having a family and by those disconnected communities that result when people are unable to put down roots. What kind of society are we building when affordability is now defined by the Government as being €450,000 in Dublin and €400,000 in Cork or Galway? Do you know a mortgage on those amounts is at least €114,000? Increasingly, Ireland has become a country of haves and have-nots.

The most vulnerable are being left behind without so much as a second glance by this Government. The cost-of-living crisis is decimating workers and their families throughout the country who are now struggling to survive. The supports offered by the Government have not been enough to keep people's heads over water. In an indictment of the Government's failure to protect the most vulnerable, elderly people - we heard it this week on the radio - are presenting to hospital with hypothermia because they are not heating their homes.

In the absence of leadership from this Government, civil society has stepped into the breach. It was reported yesterday that primary schools throughout the country are now distributing food vouchers to help the struggling families put food on the table this Christmas. On Wednesday the Capuchin Day Centre had to stop handing out tickets for its Christmas hamper due to safety concerns after thousands of people turned up seeking help. According to one man who had volunteered with that service since 1972, it was the worst he had ever seen. State supports for those who need them most are threadbare and disintegrating.

Children with disabilities are being denied basic healthcare and their educational entitlements and, with them, the right to reach their full potential. More than 110,000 children are now on waiting lists for therapies such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and disability services. It is not acceptable for the Government to blame recruitment problems for a failure to provide essential services. If services were properly planned and prioritised, crucial staff would be in place. Waiting lists are now a feature, not a flaw, of the health service. How else does one explain how there are more than 900,000 people on some form of waiting list for care? Waiting lists have soared despite record investments in the health service in recent years. Why? It is because pumping money into a broken system will not produce the desired results. We need a reform of the health service. Reform was set out in the Sláintecare plan but has not been properly implemented.

The Green Party has maintained its presence in Government because it says it wants to deliver on climate action. However, the people who supported the Green Party are now learning that its climate rhetoric does not match climate action. The figures speak for themselves. Our emissions last year went up by 5.4%. The target reduction was 4.8%. Just last week we had another damning report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, which warned that our emissions have contributed to an increase this year of 6%. We have just eight years to stop the worst impacts of the climate crisis and an irreversible climate catastrophe. Under this Government, our chances of reaching that climate target are becoming increasingly remote.

The potential and desire for change is huge in Ireland. People have great belief that we can do better. However, people want genuine change, not a repackaging of stale parties or policies as something new. This handing-over of the baton from the Taoiseach to the Tánaiste does not represent real change.

This rotation of Taoiseach will not serve the people out there who need new politics informed by the values of social democracy that delivers for them. The only thing it will achieve is finally sounding the death knell for the Civil War politics after a century, and the pretence that there ever any real difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I do not wish to be ungracious, but this is not a time for standing ovations or self-congratulation. We are living in one of the richest countries in the world and yet, one in five of our population is living at risk of poverty. As we head into Christmas, there are 3,400 children who are going to go through Christmas in emergency accommodation. There are a total of 11,000 people who are homeless and in emergency accommodation, many of whom are children who will suffer their second, third or fourth Christmas in homeless accommodation. One in five of our population suffers deprivation. A whole generation of young people have no prospect of being able to afford the rents that are being charged or the house prices that have all reached record levels. This is happening not because it is necessary, but because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have protected the interests of the few over the many. At the same time that we are seeing that shocking level of homelessness, deprivation and people suffering the cruel blows of an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis, corporate profits have soared through the roof. They are up 159% over the last decade. The ESB and the energy companies saw their profits treble in the first six months of this year. At the same time, there are people on pitiful incomes who do not know if they will have enough money to pay for electricity.

Yesterday, I got a message from a young woman in Wexford named Jill, who is a single parent with a child with special needs. In the last week she has had to put €200 into her pay-as-you-go electricity meter. When she rang up Electric Ireland to ask if someone would come out to check whether the meter was faulty, because she simply could not believe that this is what she was being charged when she has an income of €268, she was told someone would come out, but if there was no problem with the meter she would be charged a €200 call-out fee. Earlier this week I read out a letter from a mother who, along with her husband and her two teenage children, is facing the courts and the prospect of being evicted from the home where they have lived all their lives in February, even though the Government claimed it was going to prevent this stuff. They are people who have paid their taxes, have done nothing wrong and have always paid the rent. They, along with thousands of others, are going into this Christmas facing the prospect that they will be homeless in the new year. That is the legacy of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael - a society for the few while the many suffer homelessness, deprivation and struggle to survive day to day.

In our view, this is not a time to change the Taoiseach; it is the time to change Government. We need a different type of society where people are put before the profits and wealth of a tiny few. We need a government of the left, a socialist government that will use the wealth and resources that exist in our society to eliminate homelessness and to end the scandal of people waiting on trolleys and nearly 900,000 people waiting for essential procedures in our hospitals.

I say to our colleagues in the Opposition that if, as many of us are saying, it is time after more than 100 years to break the cycle of Fianna Fáil - they have had their chance and they have let us down - then they also need to give a pledge to the people out there that they will not prop up a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael Government come the next election. It is time for a different type of Government in this country that puts the needs of working people for basic services, such as the right to housing and a secure dignified existence for everybody, first. That is perfectly possible in one of the wealthiest societies in the world but it will not happen unless we remove Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael from power.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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According to Bon Jovi's song:

The more things change the more the stay the same

... it's just reality

It's the same damn song with a different melody

That is what is happening here today. The change of Taoiseach will mean nothing for the majority of people in this country. More than that, the election of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Varadkar, as Taoiseach will guarantee a doubling down and a continuation of the past policies.

Deputy Varadkar has been always the most ideological of the Tweedledum-Tweedledee choices we have. The Deputy notoriously targeted the so-called "welfare cheats" but, in reality, he targets the most marginalised people. At the same time, the Deputy seeks always to double down on the justification for the growing gap between wealth and poverty in this country. The Commission on Taxation recently pointed out that the direction of travel is only going in one way. The share of the wealth for the top 20% is increasing while all other groups have an increasing lower share. No doubt this trend will continue under the Taoiseach nua's watch.

Deputy Varadkar is truly a safe pair of hands for that section of Irish society and the guarantor that there will be no change in policy for the next two years. There will be no change for the hundreds of thousands of people in housing need and no change for those on the wrong side of a private-versus-public healthcare service. Oddly enough, one area where we are likely to see a change is in climate, but it will not be for the better. I say that because the change under Deputy Varadkar, with the Greens in power with him, which is an utter disaster for the environment and the climate movement, will mean the neoliberal bandwagon will ensure that climate issues will get worse and environmental disasters will widen. I say that because Deputy Varadkar will guarantee that liquefied natural gases, LNGs, will come into this country - he recently met with New Fortress Energy - data centres will flourish and targets will be missed. We can expect plenty of rhetoric around this but, like housing, we will see utter failure on delivery.

The slogan for today should be adopted from the school students' climate strike movement that we need system change, not climate change. Today, we need system change, not Taoiseach change.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There, published in 1871, featured the characters Tweedledum and Tweedledee. According to Wikipedia, "The Tweedle brothers never contradict each other ... they complement each other's words, which led John Tenniel to portray them as twins in his illustrations for the book." Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of Irish politics. As if to prove the point this morning, they swap around the top jobs and the policy of the Government will stay more or less exactly the same.

On Wednesday morning, at 4 a.m., queues began to form outside the Capuchin Day Centre here in Dublin for tickets for Christmas hampers for those in need. By 11 a.m., gardaí had to intervene to stop the distribution of tickets amid what was described by the centre's co-ordinator as, "absolutely chaotic scenes". This happened in the capital city of a wealthy, First World country - a country which Deputy Varadkar has helped to shape having been a Minister for 11 years now.

My colleague, Councillor Leah Whelan, 25 years of age, is in a WhatsApp group with 21 of her friends. Since the start of the year, 20 of Leah's friends have emigrated. In a State led for 100 years by Governments headed by Fine Gael of Fianna Fáil, a State from which many more than 1 million people have been forced to emigrate, youth emigration is starting up again in earnest. Back in the day, emigration was driven by mass unemployment. Today, it is driven by the housing emergency. No party in this House is more responsible for this crisis than Deputy Varadkar's party, which has been in power as it was allowed to develop all along the line.

If the people had a vote today they would vote for change and Deputy McDonald would probably be the one heading off to the Park. As this Dáil enters its second half, I say to Deputy McDonald the change the people need will not be found in Governments that include Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, nor will it be found in discussions with the likes of Mary Harney or the big property developers. We need an alternative to the capitalist market and its representatives, not a second 11 for it. I will be voting against the nomination of Deputy Varadkar.

Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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At this time in 1994 the Fianna Fáil-Labour Party coalition collapsed. This month, exactly 28 years ago, during negotiations for a new Government, I was sent on a mission by John Bruton. The objective was to find a solution to a key Labour demand for a rotating Taoiseach. The Labour Party was in a strong position with 32 seats. It had the option of going back into Government with Fianna Fáil under a new leader. Fine Gael had lost the 1987, 1989 and 1992 elections. The opportunity to return to power had to be grasped. The compromise was the appointment of the first-ever Labour Party Minister for Finance, Ruairí Quinn. Incidentally, that time also saw the introduction of what we called "the high chair" and is now known as the "super-junior" Minister.

It is with a great sense of satisfaction I am here to participate in the notion of a rotating Taoiseach becoming a reality. Due to the unwavering loyalty of the people of Tipperary, I am here to endorse this historic event. Once bitter rivals, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are now combining out of national interest and self-interest to rotate the position of Taoiseach and restructure a Cabinet. Sinn Féin can take comfort from the fact that change does happen, even if it takes 100 years. Today's event shows all things are possible. Nothing is certain in politics. The uncertainty of the current times has informed my decision to support the transition of Government today. There are several pessimists in this Chamber. They continually bark and bite. They rail against Government and the working of the institutions of the State. That approach gathers headlines but does nothing to achieve progress. I prefer to be fair, to give credit when it is due and to criticise failings objectively. It is my experience a positive, constructive approach to politics yields results, in particular for my constituents.

Our country and its people are once again facing dangerous times. This is an Administration that has experience of dealing with difficult times. Its first task was to deal with the worst pandemic since the Spanish flu of 1918. This was followed by the worst energy crisis since 1970s and the first major European land war since 1945. The coalition has had a difficult birth. It faced many challenges in a resolute and cool-headed fashion. Of course it got things wrong but it has had enough success to merit the retention of the confidence of the membership of this House. Our finances have been well managed and are in relatively good order. The Government has kept the lights on and business open. It has strived to look after those who need help. Our welfare system is one of the most generous in Europe. The majority of people want this Government to run its term before casting ultimate judgment at the ballot box. For now, people recognise the centre of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have held this country together. This is a stable team. It is not spectacular but is modestly effective. By contrast, the option at this time is a Sinn Féin-led Government dependent on People Before Profit, with a few others from the left. This is not a coherent alternative. It does not have the confidence of business. It does not have the confidence or rural Ireland. It does not have the confidence of those who work. A combination of Sinn Féin and the left is untried and untested. We need only remember it took Liz Truss one month to send the UK economy into a tailspin. The next few years are going to be exceptionally tough. We need an experienced team to lead us. It is not a time for experiments. The coalition has done some good work.

There are many things that it can do better.

The tasks of Government are clear. People need homes and shelter. They need good hospitals and healthcare. They need schools, colleges and centres of educational excellence. In an increasingly modern economy and society, they need good and affordable childcare. People need to be feel safe and secure their homes and communities. This renewed Administration also needs to find a better way to talk about climate change. The Green Party, in particular, has to learn to talk more respectfully to rural Ireland.

In conclusion, I thank the outgoing Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, for his accessibility and courtesy. I commend him on the job he has done in guiding the country through a difficult period. Deputy Martin has governed with honesty, collegiality and grit. His successor, Deputy Leo Varadkar, has his own style. He has skill and ability. He is forthright and open to new ideas. He is not afraid to have an opinion and take a stand. I wish him every possible success in tackling the priority issues for this Government and the people of our country.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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In October 2019, Deputy Varadkar, as Taoiseach, apologised to the women wronged by the CervicalCheck scandal and promised that no woman would ever have to go through courts again to get justice. Despite that promise, three years later more than 170 women have done just that and have gone through the court system to get justice. Deputy Varadkar was Minister for Health at the time the CervicalCheck scandal happened. However, he said he has no recollection of being informed of it.

As Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar said, short of an asteroid hitting this planet, the national children's hospital would be built for €750 million and open by 2020. It is currently double that cost - the cost could reach €2 billion before it is open - and will not be open until 2025. It is an incredible situation that a party which prides itself as a party of prudence is actually the party that is presiding over serious cost overruns across capital projects.

When Deputy Varadkar was in his last year as Taoiseach, 35 of the 38 most significant capital projects in the State were over budget, including the national broadband plan, the national maternity hospital and others. It seems that when one puts the word "national" beside a capital project in this country, it adds hundreds of millions of euro to the cost and puts the project way over time.

On his way out of health, Deputy Varadkar cut the mental health budget in the State by a third. He kept a strong interest in health, however, when Taoiseach and leaked a confidential document which was negotiated with the IMO to his friend, who was president of a rival GP group. I asked Deputy Varadkar in the Dáil whether he had ever leaked from Cabinet. After a long and awkward pause, he responded, "Nothing of this nature. All politicians leak from time to time".

During the Covid crisis when lives were extremely restricted and ordinary men and women could not book a table in a bar or restaurant and funeral undertakers, brides and grooms and the hospitality industry were abiding by one set of rules, Deputy Varadkar, along with dozens of others, partied with Katherine Zappone. Similar actions would have led to resignations in other western countries. He was saved because the Attorney General broke a traditional silence and said the rules everybody else was abiding by the time were not actually the rules at all.

Deputy Varadkar presided over the longest and most restrictive lockdowns in Europe. He presided over the only Government in the whole of Europe that closed down the building of homes at that time. Despite the rising number of excess deaths at the moment, he is part of a Government that is still refusing to investigate the high level of excess deaths occurring in this State at the moment.

While Deputy Varadkar has been in power, the North of Ireland has staggered from crisis to crisis. The North is dealt with really only as a crisis by this Government instead of an opportunity for the freedom that Michael Collins once spoke about. As Deputy Varadkar is taking the position of Taoiseach 100 years since the foundation of the Free State and the shocking State executions of republicans by the State, I ask that he use his position to finally put an end to Civil War politics and offer a State apology for those executions that happened more than 100 years ago.

Deputy Varadkar has been part of a Cabinet that has seen one of the worst housing crises in history. There is record homelessness and incredible numbers of deaths of homeless people on the streets. There are record local authority housing waiting lists, record rents and record house prices. He has been part of a Government that has seen record overcrowding in accident and emergency departments and waiting times and hospital waiting lists have become worse for many people across the country.

The party of so-called law and order has seen many parts of this State start to live in fear as the country has become more dangerous for them.

More gardaí have been attacked while Deputy Varadkar has been in government, more gardaí have resigned and fewer are joining the ranks over the past ten years.

Deputy Varadkar is not solely responsible, obviously, for all of these issues, and no political leader can get it right on every single occasion. However, Deputy Varadkar has been the most senior party in government for the past ten years and has to take responsibility for these issues. It gives me no pleasure to list this litany of disasters, but there has been poor judgment, a lack of trust and a harsh Tory political instinct behind many of these decisions. For those reasons, I cannot support his nomination as Taoiseach.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Ar an chéad dul síos, I would like to wish the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and every Member of this House a happy, holy and peaceful Christmas.

I am reminded of a late evening and we were all down in the Round Room or somewhere. This is more like “Lanagan’s Ball” – I stepped out and you stepped in again and I stepped out and we had Lanagan’s Ball.

However, the people of Ireland have questions they want answered. I have spoken here on many occasions and mentioned powerful globalist forces who are having a huge impact on the way our country is being run. Probably the most powerful of all these globalists organisations is the World Economic Forum, WEF, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland. It is fronted by an individual, Mr. Klaus Schwab. Mr. Schwab has written many controversial books about how he believes the world should be governed, including The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Stakeholder CapitalismandCovid-19: The Great Reset.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Could I get some silence? He has written and spoken openly about what he calls “the great reset”. He describes it as an opportunity to reset our world to create a healthier and more equitable and prosperous Europe and future. This sounds fantastic initially, but on closer examination of this cabal, as I call it, it is strange. One of his most famous quotes from 2016 gives us a little insight. He said that by 2030 one will own nothing and be happy about it. He is also quoted as saying “The sovereign state has become obsolete.” I remember some top people here said this about our sovereignty recently as well. He speaks about a system called stakeholder capitalism, which he and the WEF see as a replacement for the current financial system of shareholder capitalism. This system, as quoted on the WEF website, “is one where government, business and individuals collaborate”. It is a system which would see corporations, wealthy, powerful elites and citizens being given an equal stake in the running of their countries. This sounds the very much the same as what the Italian fascist dictator, Mussolini, described as the "corporate state". In fact, this sounds the very same as Mussolini's very definition of fascism when he said that fascism is equal to corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.

This all might sound like some sort of conspiracy and I wish it was, but it is not.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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All right, we will see who will have the last laugh, gáire. Santy might come to ye.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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It is not, thank God, no. May I continue, with the Leas-Cheann Comhairle’s permission?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Yes.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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There are certain things that we cannot discuss in this Chamber anymore because one is shouted down. As I said, we have several books from Mr. Schwab of the WEF and I will quote again from him. In 2016, he said:

What we are very proud of now is that the young generation, like Prime Minister Trudeau and the president of Argentina and so on, is that we penetrated the cabinets. Yesterday, I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau and I would know that half of his cabinet or even more than half of his cabinet are actually young global leaders of the World Economic Forum.

This brings me to the nub of the question for the Taoiseach-elect.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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They are one in the same. As I said, “I stepped out and you stepped in again.” It is on the Government website now if anyone wants to look it up. The website is being touted as the WEF's young global leaders.

Can Deputy Varadkar explain to me and to the people of Ireland - even if Members here do not want to hear it - why the Young Global Leaders organisation is looking to destroy the power of the people and is destroying our democracy? They rested on that-----

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I never heard of it.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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It is funny all right. Why is the Young Global Leaders an organisation that sets out to take and to destroy our sovereignty as well as the sovereignty of other countries? Can Deputy Varadkar explain to the Irish people how his position of Taoiseach will endure and how it does not present a conflict of interest? I believe it does. The Irish people and individuals are very worried about this. Deputy Varadkar might not want to know about this but they are worried about it. Do the World Economic Forum, WEF, members have any other supporters? I spoke to one of the Ministers-to-be during the week who told me it was a great organisation and that there was nothing wrong with it. I rest my case and I will point out that I will not be voting for Deputy Varadkar as Taoiseach today.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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At the outset, I would like to pay my heartfelt sympathies to the family of the late Private Seán Rooney and to send our concern and our wishes to Trooper Shane Kearney. I thank them, and we are standing in solidarity with the Defence Forces. Today it is only right and proper that we also think of other people, like our own members of An Garda Síochána, who put themselves in harm's way on a daily basis to protect and uphold the law and the rule of our land, whether that is at home or abroad. I send a very special word to the members of the Defence Forces who are abroad today. We are thinking of them, we are praying for them and we are so sorry that at this time of the year this has happened to one lovely young man who had his whole life in front of him and who laid it down to work for our State and to help other people. That is so important in the interest of peace.

First, I want to say to the outgoing Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, and to his wife Mary and to his family that I wish him nothing but good luck and happiness always and I wish him well on this day. To the incoming Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, and to his family, he knows that I wish him nothing but good luck every day and good fortune. It is a good day for him and his family, but I want to speak up on behalf of the people of County Kerry, because that is what I am here to do.

I want to talk about who it is not a good day for. I want to remind Deputy Varadkar of this on this special day. It is not a good day for the thousands of homeless people and the people on the housing waiting list. It is not a good day for the million people who are waiting on a list to have medical procedures. It is not a good day for the almost blind people who take a bus to Belfast on a regular basis to have a simple operation to have cataracts removed from their eyes when it should be done here. It is not a good day for the elderly who are cold in their homes and who were recently told by Green Party representatives in County Kerry, “Whatever you do, do not go lighting cosy fires because you might damage the environment around Tralee”. They were told that in the last couple of days. That is an awful thing to tell people. It is not a good day for the fishermen who have been sold out by this and successive Governments. It is not a good day for farmers who are time and time again being put to the pin of their collars to survive. It is not a good day for the horticultural industry who are forgotten by this Government. There are 17,000 of them. There are 6,600 employed directly and 11,000 indirectly employed in horticulture. They were completely forgotten about when the Government shut down the peat industry. It is not a good day for the people who have been allocated home help hours but that help is not arriving to them because it is not available. It is not a good day for cancer patients, in particular, those who I represent and who I deal with on a daily basis, who should receive full medical cards automatically. The diagnosis of cancer should equal the allocation of a full medical card for the duration of their illness. It is not a good day for farmers who now realise their lands will be taxed, a new tax. This is not a good day for those farmers. It is not a good day for those who work in the hospitality sector which I represent in county Kerry. They are worried about the VAT increase that the new incoming Government is going to put on them next year.

I got this very straight and I will give it straight to the Government on the floor of Dáil Éireann. This is from the people of the Kerry Hotel Federation, who I met with during the week. They are concerned for their sector. It is not a good day for the ordinary working man and woman who time and time again are left to pay for everything and who are worried about the mismanagement that Deputy Varadkar has done in the past and are afraid about what he will do in the future.

It is not a good day because these days of the election of new taoisigh have come and gone before, but nothing seems to change.

What I would ask of the new Taoiseach, in a very straightforward and open way, is to listen to the people. I am asking him to do that for his own good. I am trying to be helpful. He should take it from the ground up. If his ears and his mind are open to what is wrong in the country, it will make him and his Government a better Government. I and others on this side of the House will remind him of that in the best and most constructive way we can. When we do so, it is not personal - it is us doing our job and speaking up for the people. As long as I live, I will never understand why people alongside Deputy Varadkar think it is a good idea to stop people from cutting turf. I will remember those people the same as he will remember other people.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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On a personal basis, I wish the outgoing Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, all that is good and thank him for his service, especially during the pandemic, and his stance on Brexit and Ukraine.

I also wish the incoming Taoiseach all that is good. I do so not just because it is Christmas but because when our Taoiseach and Government do well, it is better for the country.

In my short contribution, I will draw a parallel with that statement. When our regions do well, it is better for the country. When the outgoing Tánaiste's party was in office nearly eight years ago, the northern and western region was classified by the European Commission as a developed region. It slipped back to a region in transition and is now classified as a lagging industrial region, which means it is caught in a development trap. When the Commission raised a red flag about this, how did the Government respond? The northern and western region received just €217 million of the €900 million given under the European Regional Development Fund, ERDF. In countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece, which include lagging regions, by far the greatest amount of this funding is being invested in those regions. That is not being done here. To add insult to injury, when the Northern and Western Regional Assembly negotiated €250 million deal with the Commission, the reluctance of Departments to spend money in the region meant €33 million of that money had to be given back. This is cohesion funding, which is meant to close the gaps nationally and within the EU.

The Government could have ensured the extra money given was spent in the region. It could have reduced the co-financing rate to 10%, as it was asked to do. It did not do so and therein is the core of the problem. There is no accountable and responsible Department, person or group of persons tasked with delivering balanced regional development. That is not because anybody in the Government is saying, "We will not try to achieve a balance of development between regions.". It is because the Government, like previous Governments, has allowed regional development to slip through the cracks, which means it just does not get done. Yes, there has been progress in some areas, including, for example, the establishment of the Atlantic Technological University. However, the gap is so great that unless there is positive discrimination and a whole-of-government approach to closing it, the slippage will happen again and again.

Another example of that gap is in respect of the connectivity of the region, including its rail, road and air services. On accessibility and proximity criteria, according to the OECD, the region scores well below the EU average. Just in the past five weeks, we learned that not one of the designated five surgical hubs is to be located north of a line from Dublin to Galway. Hospitals like Sligo University Hospital, having lost part of its cancer services and having been told there is to be no catheterisation laboratory for the north west, now must continue to wait for its surgical block. Without it, as we all know, there can be no guarantee of the long-term viability of there being an acute hospital in the north west.

The region is at a tipping point. I see little or no evidence of a co-ordinated and properly funded plan to close the economic gap. As my colleague, Deputy Fitzmaurice, will outline, there is a real threat to agriculture and rural development in the region, without, so far, an adequate response from the Government. Therefore, I cannot support the nomination of the outgoing Tánaiste as Taoiseach.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Governments have to deal with the crises of the day and this Government has probably faced more crises than most. Regardless of the magnitude of those crises, governments must put in place a strategy for tomorrow. To borrow a phrase, some people look at the world as it is and ask "Why?"; others look at the world as it could be and ask, "Why not?". Unfortunately, the Government has done neither.

We have reached the end of the era of hydrocarbons but we have no alternative in place. Exploration off our west coast has been banned and, instead, we import gas in tankers, thereby increasing its carbon footprint. We talk about offshore wind energy but, as yet, there is no strategy in place into which investors can buy. A Minister in one Department talks about solar energy, while a Minister of State in the same Department wants to start a trade war with the only country in which solar technology is manufactured.

We talk about anaerobic digestion, which the EU tells us we are well suited to, but we missed the deadline to apply for funding. We have also reached the end of the era when we can use corporation tax to fund our economy. Those taxes are, rightly or wrongly but increasingly successfully, claimed by others as theirs. Instead of using that bounty to develop health infrastructure, we failed to do so and the trolleys mount up.

We failed to put public transport infrastructure in place to take people out of cars, which is what we want to do. As we celebrate the centenary of the State, we must acknowledge the reality that there was better public transport infrastructure in place a century ago relative to its time and, perhaps, it was better in actual effect. If and when the Government starts to put a strategy in place to deal with tomorrow and the next decade, it will have my support; until it does, I cannot support this Government.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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A Thaoisigh, comhghairdeas. Guím gach rath ort i do ról nua.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le baill Dháil Éireann don onóir mhór a thug sibh dom inniu. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuilim ag déanamh mar a rinne na daoine ar éirigh leo a ainmniú mar Thaoiseach don dara huair. Glacaim go humhal leis an ainmniúchán seo. Ba mhór an onóir dom a bheith mar Thaoiseach agus céad bliain mar Stáit á gcomóradh againn.

Céad bliain ó shin, tháinig aisling na Saoirse i gcrích de réir mar a bhaineamar státacht amach. D’aithin an domhan ár neamhspleáchas. Ba cheart go mbeadh sé mar mhisean againn anois iarracht a dhéanamh cabhrú lenár dtír go ceann céad bliain chun na fadhbanna atá roimh mhuintir na hÉireann a réitigh agus chun dóchas a sholáthar in áit a bhfuil éiginnteacht agus éadóchas.

I am very proud of the State that was created 100 years ago under most extreme pressure. Throughout difficult crises and challenges, our democracy endured, survived and prospered. We won the ultimate freedom that all nations desire and develop to, as Michael Collins predicted. We owe a debt to men and women of all political parties and all traditions.

A crucial year in the history of our State was 1932, because that is when the wishes of the people were respected, the democratic principle was put ahead of all others and there was a peaceful transfer of power. The coming together of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in a shared Government with the Green Party in 2020 was less significant, but was nonetheless another important moment in our history.

I want to take this opportunity to commend Deputy Micheál Martin on the leadership that he showed as Taoiseach, for putting the country before politics and for providing reassurance and hope during difficult times. In 2020, the incoming Taoiseach was unable to have his wife and family with him at the Convention Centre as he received the greatest honour of his life. That, too, was leadership and I am glad that they are with us today.

During the pandemic, we all saw the best of each other and it meant that the new coalition was born in a spirit of togetherness and hope. I intend that spirit to continue as we implement, with our partners in the Green Party, the agreed programme for Government.

I would also like to thank my family, friends and staff for their work, love and support. When we enter public life, we choose that path; our loved ones do not. I want them to know that my work as Taoiseach is driven by their example and I intend to honour their confidence in me. I also want to thank, in particular, my constituents in Dublin West for giving me the opportunity to serve as a Deputy and electing me on four occasions. All of us, whether we are Minister, leaders or Opposition spokespeople, know that our mandate ultimately derives from the people who vote for us on election day and for that I remain eternally grateful. I also want to thank all of the Deputies who supported my nomination from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and Independents.

When I became Taoiseach in June 2017, so much of the focus was on my election and what it represented and symbolised, which was understandable at the time. However, we should focus on where our country is now and what needs to be done as we prepare for our next century of statehood. Our history of the past 100 years has been about winning the additional freedoms that were denied to us or which we were unable to imagine at the time, such as becoming a Republic, becoming a place where people are not limited by their gender, religion, race, background or sexual orientation and becoming a country where you are free to be yourself.

So what are the challenges for the next 100 years? We have many and some of them we need to fix now, otherwise we will be betraying the current generation and the generations who come after us. I am thinking in particular of housing and how we have to go all out to turn to the corner on rising homelessness and falling home ownership. We need to accelerate our plan, Housing for All, making home ownership a reality for the many again. I am thinking of how we need to tame inflation and to bring the cost of living under control, especially when it comes to the cost of energy, childcare, education, rent and healthcare. I am thinking about climate and biodiversity, the challenges facing our planet and the need to set ourselves the ambition of becoming energy independent and to develop the ideas, systems and mechanisms to make sure that happens. I believe we can harness our massive, untapped renewable natural resources providing greater energy security, stable prices, more jobs and regional development. I am also thinking, as we all are, about the unprovoked war that has brought death and devastation to Ukraine. Today, I re-affirm our commitment to stand with our fellow Europeans in this harsh winter and to help them in every way we possibly can.

I am thinking of the Defence forces and of the men and women who put the safety of others above their own and, in particular, Private Seán Rooney. We offer our condolences to his fiancé, his family and his friends and our thoughts and prayers are also with Trooper Shane Kearney. We wish him a speedy recovery.

I am thinking of the Good Friday Agreement, which was agreed nearly 25 years ago, although fundamental elements of that agreement, of the Assembly and the Executive are still suspended. Dreams of the better future are not built on stalemates and status quo. I want to work with all parties in this House and in Northern Ireland as well as with the British Government and with our partners in the European Union to make progress on the Protocol and to restore the institutions of the Agreement.

I am also thinking of the most vulnerable in our society and especially children. We need to improve access to therapies, to provide better special needs education and to do more for those who need it the most. We also need to do more about child poverty and disadvantage. We know that poverty restricts child opportunity and it casts a long shadow over their lives. The number of children who are experiencing consistent poverty has fallen by 45,000. We are making progress but it still means that too many children are missing out on the everyday opportunities they deserve. I will speak more about these matters later on.

Ireland has never been a failed State and it is grotesque and dishonest to claim that we are or that we ever were. However, we are failing some of our citizens and it is essential to our success as a country that we spend the next two years doing all we can to put this right. In eight days’ time, most homes around the country will celebrate Christmas with presents and good cheer. Most, but not all. For some families and for some children, Christmas is a time of fear and uncertainty and a time of great unhappiness. The greatest resource of any country is its people so let us try to make sure that all our people have a fair chance, starting with our youngest, their health, continuing with their education and staying with their young people until they are able to create the future they want, providing them with the stepping stones to their ultimate freedom.

Our ambition is to make Ireland the best country in Europe in which to be a child. As Taoiseach, my mission will be to build on the achievement of 100 years ago and to work on what needs to be done for this generation and the next, providing hope and housing, economic opportunities and a fair start for all.

I accept this nomination by the Dáil with humility and resolve, with a burning desire to make good the promise of 100 years ago and to provide new hope and new opportunities for all of our citizens. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.