Irish people are pragmatic. They understand that nobody is going to fix our problems but ourselves.

I would never accuse the Irish people of being in any way stupid.

You see, in government, people give you a mandate, and you've got to fulfil that. Ours is very clear. Fix our public finances and get our country working.

The revelations of the Cloyne report have brought the government, Irish Catholics, and the Vatican to an unprecedented juncture.

The lion's share of the damage to the Irish economy was the fault of domestic, economic, and financial mismanagement.

I think - whether it's music, literature, sport, art, whatever you want - there's nobody who can stop us if we only apply ourselves with the singular objective of being the best in the world.