Now that we know the election results the preparation work to form a new Government is underway. Eamon Gilmore has appointed me to the Labour Party negotiation team in the talks with Fine Gael over the next week or so.
It will be a daunting task to form a Government and to go straight into the talks with the European Union over the few weeks between the nomination of the Taoiseach and Ministers and the crunch meeting to European leaders in late March. It is a job that must be done to secure continued funding at reasonable cost for our country and to secure a full resolution of the banking crisis.
I want to thank all the voters of Dublin West who gave me such a powerful vote in the election. In addition to heading the poll locally I was the first TD elected to the new Dail. You can access the details of the count from the Irish Times or RTE websites. Next week Community Voice will publish a more detailed breakdown of the count in Dublin West area by area.
I look forward to the work of representing you in the Dail. As always you can contact me by phone or email and I will do my best to be of assistance.