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Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 12 Dec 1923

Vol. 2 No. 7

ELECTION OF CATHAOIRLEACH.

AN CATHAOIRLEACH

The first business on the Order Paper is the election of Cathaoirleach. In accordance with our Standing Orders, it is necessary that I should vacate the Chair, and that the Seanad should appoint one of their own body to act as Chairman for the purpose of this particular election.

As I had the honour of making the first motion in this Seanad when we first sat, I would like to move that Senator Dr. Sigerson take the Chair on this occasion as he did on the previous one.

I beg to second.

Question put and agreed to.

(having taken the Chair): We will now proceed with the first business, which is the election of Cathaoirleach.

I had the honour twelve months ago of proposing the name of Lord Glenavy for the Chairmanship of the Seanad. I did so, first, because I considered him the one man whose judicial qualities and powers of decision pre-eminently fitted him for the position, secondly, because I felt that the most prudent step that this Seanad could take in embarking on its new career both for itself and the country was to obliterate all old political landmarks, and to let those who had formerly been the minority in this country see that we regarded them only as brother Irishmen, and that we were willing and ready to invite them to places of honour and influence, requiring only one test, namely, that of ability and efficiency. I am aware that this attitude has been criticised. It has been severely criticised by people who claim to be great Nationalists and Republicans. But my answer to this criticism is that in carrying out this policy we are carrying out the aim of that great Nationalist, that great martyr of Irish liberty, and that great Republican, Wolfe Tone, who proclaimed that his aim was to unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish all memory of past dissensions and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter.

Therefore, in furtherance of that aim, I am to-day again nominating Lord Glenavy as the Chairman of the Seanad. In asking the Seanad to reelect him, I feel that I am asking them to take a step that is in the interest of true patriotism and of true wisdom. Of his Chairmanship during the past twelve months I will only say—without reflecting on any person in this Assembly—that no other Senator could have conducted the business with such expedition or presided over our deliberations with more tact. Although I spoke on the last occasion of the effect it would have on Ulster, I know that that effect to-day is not very apparent. Still, the outlook and the prospect of reunion with Ulster is a great deal brighter to-day than it was twelve months ago, and I hope when twelve months have passed again that the varied tints of the classes and creeds and sections that go to make up the Irish nation may be united to form one arch of peace. I formally move the reelection of Lord Glenavy.

I have great pleasure in seconding the motion so ably and appropriately moved by Senator McLoughlin.

Motion put and declared carried unanimously.

CHAIRMAN

I now call upon Lord Glenavy to accept the position, which has been unanimously offered to him, with a céad míle fáilte.

At this stage Lord Glenavy took the Chair.

AN CATHAOIRLEACH

I feel very greatly honoured by the renewal of the confidence that was reposed in me in December of last year, and by my election then as the first Chairman of the Seanad of the Irish Free State. That honour has been enhanced to-day by the gracious and generous terms in which the Senators who have spoken have supported the resolution and by the unanimous vote with which it was adopted. I can honestly say this much, at least for myself, in their justification, that I have done my best, and shall continue to do my best so to interpret the Orders and Rules which have been passed for my guidance as to secure for every Senator the fullest freedom of speech and to maintain and uphold the powers and privileges of the Seanad. If, during the last twelve months I have achieved any measure of success in this respect, it has been largely due to the indulgence and consideration that I received in every quarter of the Seanad, and not, least of all, to the constant and loyal cooperation of the Deputy-Chairman, whose talent for organisation and great business capacity were always at my disposal, particularly in the early months of the year, when we were confronted with the novel and difficult task of setting the machinery of this Seanad in motion.

At the very outset, its existence was seriously menaced by that section of our people who tried to strangle the Free State, and who, as a means to this end, singled out for attack many members of the Seanad, whose only crime it was, that they loyally and unreservedly acquiesced in the declaration of the people's will as embodied in the Constitution, and cast in their lot with the majority of their countrymen by accepting the invitation of the Government to become members of the Seanad. The victory of the Free State has been obtained at tragic cost, not merely in the crushing burdens of compensation, which will cripple for years to come the finances of our country, but in the loss on both sides of many valuable lives, at a time when Ireland needed the help of all her sons. But these sacrifices have not been in vain, if they have at last, and finally, convinced our people of the folly of seeking the political conversion of their brother Irishmen by the means of the bullet and the bomb. A nation cannot recruit its population from its cemeteries; it cannot raise revenue from ruins, nor can the country's credit and its confidence rise like a phoenix from its ashes from the ravages of robbery and rapine. For myself, my belief in the future of the Free State rests in the hope that Irishmen of all shades of thought will, at a very early date, be permitted and be prepared to advocate their views upon constitutional lines, taking their places in our native Parliament and uniting in a common effort for the reconstruction of our country, so that in a saner and more peaceful atmosphere we may yet attain to the poet's ideal, "When none was for a Party, but all were for the State."

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