A Cheann Comhairle, a Thaoisigh agus a dhaoine uaisle go léir, ba mhaith liom i dtús báire a rá go bhfuil sé mar phribhléid an-mhór dom fáilte faoi leith a chur roimh Bobby Aylward ar ais go dtí Teach Laighean agus go dtí Dáil Éireann. Is duine dílis é Bobby Aylward, atá fréamhaithe ina dhúiche féin agus ina phobal féin. Oibríonn sé go dian dícheallach, Domhnach is dálach. Tá mé an-sásta go mbeidh sé ar a chumas an-chuid oibre a dhéanamh ar son a mhuintir féin sa Teach seo sna míonna atá le teacht agus go háirithe roimh an olltoghchán atá le teacht.
It is my great privilege to warmly welcome Bobby Aylward to Dáil Éireann, to congratulate him on his success and to say in my capacity as leader of the Fianna Fáil Party that this is an occasion to celebrate, given that it has been 19 years since the party won a by-election and for the electoral nerds among you, about 45 years since we won a by-election from the Opposition benches. On this occasion we have taken the seat of the European Commissioner, former Deputy Phil Hogan, who I know is loved by many across the country and particularly by our Labour Party colleagues. We wish Phil every success and thank the people of Carlow-Kilkenny for exercising their democratic mandate.
The Aylwards have made a distinguished contribution to public service. Bobby's late father, Bob, served in Seanad Éireann and his brother Liam served as a Member of the Dáil, a Minister of State and Member of the European Parliament. Bobby himself served as a county councillor and was a Member of this House previously. He is a very committed community person, rooted in his local community. He comes from a distinguished republican tradition as well as a very distinguished hurling tradition. This has been a very exciting few months for the Aylward family because two of Bobby's sons, Bobby and Mark, played a fantastic role in Ballyhale Shamrocks' victory in the All-Ireland club hurling championship last March. The Aylwards have been on a bit of a roll lately. As a humble Cork man traversing the plains of Kilkenny, I had to eat a lot of humble pie along the way while meeting one hurling giant after another, all of whom feigned concern about the state of Cork hurling. They need not worry because the mushroom may fade, but Cork hurling never will.
We listened on the doorsteps and it was clear that there were a number of key issues about which people were concerned, including regional disparity and the lack of regional economic development, the plight of the self employed, homelessness and a range of other issues. I have no doubt that Bobby Aylward will do his very best to represent those issues and the needs of his people over the remainder of this Dáil term. He will also contribute to creating the right policy platform for contesting the next general election in a constituency which will be particularly competitive. I want to thank all of those involved in securing his success, particularly his colleague Deputy John McGuinness, who worked extremely hard on his behalf.
