visualizations data sets people comments

A Cheann Comhairle,

Is cúis mór áthais domsa seasamh anseo inniu ós chomhair na Dála mar Thaoiseach. Is mór an onoir, an phribhléid agus an dualgas atá orm ceart a dhéanamh ar son muintir na hEireann agus cuirfidh an Rialtas nua seo chun oibre le fuinneamh. I express my deep gratitude and appreciation to the Dáil for the great honour it has conferred on me by electing me Taoiseach. I am deeply conscious of the important responsibility this honour places on me. It is my first duty and my great pleasure upon being nominated by Dáil Éireann for the office of Taoiseach to congratulate you on your election by the House as Ceann Comhairle. Your long years of experience as a Deputy, together with your experience as a Minister, will equip you well for the important office to which you have been elected. Deputies from every side of the House can have full confidence that in you we will have a fair and an impartial champion.

For my part, I pledge you the respect and cooperation upon which the effective discharge of our parliamentary business depends.

I wish you well in your new and important position. On 24th May, democracy took its course and the Irish people went to the polls and elected the 30th Dáil.

The exercise of democracy, as prescribed by the constitution, is fundamental to the stability of our country and to the legitimacy of our government. Though our free, transparent and peaceful exercise of the democratic franchise is happily the norm, it should never be taken for granted.

It is worth remembering as we meet for the first time today that Ireland enjoys a longer period of continuity under a single written constitution than any other European country.

From a perspective of peace and prosperity, the abiding memory today of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s may be of economic hardship and emigration. But we should recall too that in a world at war and a European continent oppressed by fascism and communism, that Ireland's proudest achievement then was the establishment of stable democracy. It remains one of Ireland's proudest achievements now.

Ireland's democracy, established with such firm political purpose by those who fought for and those who established this Republic, is the foundation for all we enjoy. Today, for myself and on behalf of all those who share the privilege of being elected to the 30th Dáil, I want to acknowledge those who have gone before us and left so much of lasting value behind.
...