We need to get Paddy timekeeping back in the Seanad after the recess.

Like many others I got up this morning not expecting the Taoiseach to announce his resignation. However, he did and I think it was a courageous thing to do. Many people leave politics because they are ordered out and the electorate does not support them. To realise that he has given his best and it is time to move on to do other things when he could have realistically remained as Taoiseach for another year is brave, and it is something we all need to admire and take some leadership from. His record since he entered Cabinet in 2011 is quite remarkable because it has been a turbulent 12 or 13 years. We were broke as a country when he went into Cabinet with the former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and others. Within three or four years sovereignty was restored. We then had Brexit, which took careful diplomatic engagement, negotiations and discussions. We had not even dealt with Brexit when the pandemic happened. I think the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar's leadership in the pandemic and his state of the nation address on St. Patrick's Day will define his premiership because his determination at that stage was to save lives. In my view many thousands of lives were saved because of the leadership of that Government and of the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and the co-operation of the Irish people. In more recent times we had the inflation crisis, which was navigated. We are now hopefully looking at that coming to an end, or at least easing off. At 45 years of age, he has had a remarkable career, and I wish him well because he has made it clear he will continue to represent Ireland in whatever capacity and to do his best for Ireland. I think that is all we can expect of anyone.

Is lá stairiúil é seo agus guím gach rath ar an Taoiseach, Teachta Leo Varadkar, agus é fógartha anois aige go bhfuil sé chun éirí as oifig.

I would like to be associated with all those wishing Leo Varadkar well on this very surprising day when he announced he is to retire as Taoiseach and as leader of Fine Gael. I think the history books will show that Mr. Varadkar has been a very talented man and has sought to serve his country to the best of his ability. His talents have been on display on many an occasion.

While I would disagree with him on a number of issues, I cannot ask but express today my appreciation to him as a citizen and as a Member of the Oireachtas for taking on the difficult task of going into politics, standing up for ideas he believes in and giving leadership to his party and to the country. I think particularly of the very difficult time of the pandemic and, again, not everybody was happy with Government decisions, but I think we can all acknowledge that was a very difficult time to be in leadership. I wish him well on this day.

It is not really the day to get into the reasons he has chosen to make his decision at this time. Obviously, however, I am aware of what my friend and colleague, Senator McDowell, said about the Seanad and its role. I think people will be reflecting on the role of the Seanad in the recent referendum and the contributions made by many Members of the Seanad to bring the issues that were involved to light. I take this opportunity before the Easter break to ask that we have a debate. I support everything Senator McDowell said about question of the Whip in the Seanad, but I ask for a debate on those referendum results. I raised issues about the role of NGOs and their funding and how they have operated. There are issues about the role of Government and how it manages the flow of information to the public. Therefore, I ask that we have a reflective retrospective debate on the referendums and their outcomes at the earliest opportunity.