Before I deal with the question of the Adjournment of the Seanad I should like, on my own behalf and on behalf of the Members, to extend thanks to the staff of the House for the excellent work they have done in the last session. I should like to thank the Official Reporting staff, the Editor of Debates and the Assistant Editors, the ushers, the staff of the Seanad office under the able leadership of the Clerk, Mr. Coughlan, and the press who have come in for some criticism in the last session. In this the first session of the new Seanad many Members who are also members of county councils or were Members of the Dáil, found that strange things can happen in Seanad Éireann.
I did not realise until I was questioned by a 12 year old, who was seeking information of what Lady Desart from Kilkenny had said in the first Seanad, how far the House has progressed from the pedestrian nature of that first House. In the last session we addressed ourselves to the need for reforming the Seanad, to update and upgrade the House. We need to be able to address matters of immediate importance and we must address the House in terms of making it a more adequate House of the Oireachtas.
Members have an open mind on how we should run the business of the House and it is my hope that in the next session the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, and their sub-committee, will meet to consider the various reforms suggested by Members. I am not saying that all the suggestions being put forward will be implemented. Any Opposition will feel frustrated about the need for reforms because it will appear to them that the Government hold the whip hand. The Government will always hold the whip hand and I do not think any Member could contemplate a Seanad in which the Government did not have that authority. Members seeking reform along those lines will not see their suggestions implemented. I do not think this House should be able to overturn any Government proposals.
Ba mhaith liom a rá san chéad teanga go raibh níos mó díospóireachtaí san Teach seo san chéad teanga ná mar a chuala mé ó 1977 go dtí an Seanad seo. Tá a lán Gaeilge ag cuid de na Seanadóirí agus tá beagán Gaeilge ag cuid eile. Is é an pointe is tábhachtaí ná go bhfuil Seanadóirí ag caint anseo trí Ghaeilge. Ba mhaith liom go leanfaí leis sin. Bhí caint mhór againn i dtaobh an gléas aistriúcháin a chur isteach san Teach seo. Táimid ag obair go dian chun go gcuirfí é sin i gcrích. B'fhéidir go mbeidh sé anseo i gceann cúpla mí. Táimid ag súil go dtógfaidh an obair seo cúpla mí. Ba mhaith liom fíor-bhuíochas a ghabháil le gach éinne a bhí ag obair sa Seanad san seisiún atá caite. Guím rath Dé ar gach duine a bheidh páirteach san obair anseo sna seachtainí atá romhainn.
I wish Members a happy Christmas and I look forward to the House returning early in January. We will be adjourning sine die.
