In accordance with the order of the House of Tuesday, 14 December, today's business is statements on the millennium.
New Millennium: Statements.
As we stand on the threshold of a new century and a new millennium, it is appropriate that we in these democratic institutions, the membership of which gives us the privilege of serving our fellow citizens, reflect on the past and express our hopes for the future. We do so deeply aware of our own minuscule individual importance in history's tapestry but still proud of our Republic, our Christianity and our Irishness.
We are also proud to proclaim our hope that these institutions and the democratic authority of the people on which they are founded will endure for centuries to come. Our hope is founded in the belief that it is through a liberal democracy that we vindicate the freedom and dignity of the individual and that we confirm the human and civil rights of our citizens, and through our Republic that we promote tolerance of differences and provide economic and social opportunities for our people. Our hope is that our fights will be fought with words and not weapons and that our wars will be waged through the clash of our democratic institutions and not through violence.
As the memory of fascism and totalitarianism passes, it will be our responsibility and the responsibility of our successors to guard against impatience, cynicism and despair at our democratic process, especially among our young people. We are conscious of the darker side of our humanity and we do not deny it. We stand in horror at the Holocaust and we grieve in the face of our own barbarity during this and past centuries on this island. However, as the President said so eloquently this morning, we have set out with confidence to the other shore.
We have much to celebrate, including our economic success, our membership of the European Union and our standing as a free and sovereign nation in the international community. Most of all, we celebrate the silence of the guns and the bombs on this island. We celebrate our diversity, our rich blend of traditions, our shared heritage and the dawn of new understanding and mutual respect.
The Belfast Agreement stands as a landmark as do the recent events which flow from it. It is my hope and prayer as a Christian on the anniversary of the birth of the Christ child that the events will stand as a beacon which will still illuminate our history one thousand years from now. Intolerance persists and the age old verity of man's inhumanity to man cannot be denied. However, we also hope that imperialism, despotism and totalitarianism are consigned to history.
We are aware of those in our society, but especially of those in other societies in the Third World and of our responsibilities towards them. We salute those who gave us our freedom and who built the State so that we could have the opportunity and the stability to achieve so much. We are conscious of our heritage and debt. We also salute those on the wider European stage who had the vision and faith to see beyond the Holocaust and the ruins of global war and to build a new edifice based on mutual respect, justice and equality. We are also entitled to hope that that edifice, which has opened our hearts and minds, will also endure the test of time.
In a thousand years' time we may have discovered new life and new civilisations beyond our own global shore. We shall have voyaged to places as yet unseen and unimagined. We may have settled even beyond our own planet. We hope that when it comes to celebrate that millennium our common bond of humanity will be one of the things we look back on and that the Ireland of the year 2000 will be remembered and cherished. We hope that while we may have two states we will have one nation.
The lasting and worthwhile achievements of this millennium were achieved by people who believed in the freedom of the individual and the primacy of democratic politics. In the new millennium we can honour their struggle and achievements by rededicating ourselves to sustaining and advancing their ideals.
It feels strange to stand in a sovereign Irish Parliament to try to address what it means to be at the end of one millennium and the start of another. It is a great time to be alive. None of us will ever witness a similar event. To stand in a sovereign Irish Parliament is a humbling experience and I am sure that all of us also remember the day we were first elected to Leinster House and took our seats in this or the other House. For all of us that day will be etched in our minds as one of the great days of our lives.
When the last millennium ended the word "parliament" had not even been invented. The democratic idea of people ruling themselves was known but it was 200 years before the word "parliament" found any measure of popular usage. It does no harm to examine the meaning of parliament in those early days – to talk. It was a place where people came together to sort out their differences through talking rather than killing. People could reason with each other and consensus and agreement could be reached. Parliament at its most basic and fundamental is the nation talking to itself; we come together to find agreement and although the majority rules, minorities are protected.
It is heartening for us all that as we come to the end of the century and millennium on this island, parliament is at last asserting its total supremacy. It has existed in this State for some time but with the new structures in Northern Ireland and the new guarantees, parliament will be the arena in which all future battles are fought.
At the start of this century there was no Irish Parliament. Since 1922, however, the Parliament has been situated in Leinster House. The entire building was given to us on loan by the RDS in 1924. Our predecessors looked initially for an alternative venue but they soon gave up. They considered going to the Royal Hospital. That could have been our seat of Government. One wonders how Dublin would have developed if the Parliament building had been situated by Heuston Station. They also thought of going to Dublin Castle or the Bank of Ireland but they stayed in Leinster House.
In this Parliament all the great battles of this century have been fought – the establishment of the State and the laying down of structures which have stood the test of time but which have also adapted and proved capable of change. From this House the great fight to gain international recognition as a sovereign nation began. We joined the League of Nations under W.T. Cosgrave in 1924 and in 1932 Eamon de Valera became President of the League of Nations.
From that point our record in international affairs has been honourable, be that in the exercise of our own sovereignty during the Second World War, when we opted for a policy of neutrality, or the later efforts of Frank Aiken in the United Nations to bring about nuclear disarmament. Our efforts in trouble spots such as the Congo and the Lebanon have also done us proud. The sense of international self-reliance we have developed, the manner in which we have adapted to membership of the European Union, is admirable.
From this House came the efforts to develop and industrialise our State, which was backward in the 1920s. From the Shannon scheme in 1927, the first exercise in industrial development by an Irish Government, through the years of industrial protection until the economic take off of the 1960s, the changing from an agricultural to an industrial society, we have arrived at the prosperity and success we enjoy today. Much of that prosperity owes its existence to the decisions taken in these Houses by the men and women who led our country over the years.
When we look back on the century of independence we think of the millions who did not have a chance to live in Ireland, who were obliged to emigrate and perhaps to live unfulfilled lives in poverty. We also rejoice in the millions of Irish people who have done well in their adopted countries and who retain their pride in their Irishness and who have contributed in no small way to the developing peace process of recent times.
We think of our country's cultural development and the flourishing of the arts during the last couple of decades. Coming from the very unpromising beginnings of the censorship, isolationism and repression of the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and even 1950s, we have developed into a country which is synonymous with a healthy, prosperous and flourishing life in the arts.
We think of other forgotten people who have been written out of Irish history. I think, in particular, of the group of Irishmen who, from the 1880s until 1918, represented the Irish case in Westminster, the Irish Parliamentary Party, which had the backing of the vast majority of Nationalist people in Ireland during those years. These men took the boat and made the long train journey from Holyhead to London and went into a hostile House of Commons. Many of them lived in poor conditions, because there were no salaries in those days, and some of them died later in abject poverty. They were the men who forced the Irish issue on to the agenda of the House of Commons and kept it there, winning many benefits for this country and who, most of all, taught us the ways of democracy. It is no accident that the Irish people who emigrated to the United States, Australia and other countries in those years brought with them an understanding of democracy which allowed them make their impact in the countries of their adoption. We have forgotten the debt we owe, as a Nationalist people, to the party of Parnell, Redmond and John Dillon which, for 40 years, fought Ireland's case. General Seán Mac Eoin could say in the 1930s and Seán McEntee in the 1940s that their generation owed a debt to those people which has never been repaid. I hope, in the new century, that there will be a memorial in these Houses of Parliament to those people who did so much and who have been written out of history.
We are all proud to remember the greatness which idependence brought out of so many of our people. We think of the greatness of W.T. Cosgrave, a small man from a very ordinary background who showed steel and determination in helping to establish the State; the greatness of Éamon de Valera whose capacity to empathise with the Nationalist sentiments of the people has never been equalled, who steered us safely and with great skill through the dangers of the Second World War, who aroused great love among those who followed him and who is being harshly treated by history today.
Hear, hear.
We think of Seán Lemass, one of the great prime ministers who was so much in tune with the development of the Ireland of the 1960s and who showed what practical patriotism could mean. We think of James Dillon, a man for whom parliament was supreme and who used parliament to scrutinise the acts of Governments to ensure that Governments did not become too powerful and were always accountable. In an age when we see public accountability brought to a new height by a committee of the other House, it is important to remember that those who came before us also argued for the concept of accountability. We think of William Norton who led the Labour Party for so many years, a man who has been unfairly treated by history but who did great things for the underdogs in Irish society over a very long period. We think of Mary Robinson, a Member of this House, the first woman to become President of this country and who always reflected well on this House.
As we come to the end of this century and millennium, the issue which is uppermost in all our minds is Northern Ireland. The events of the past couple of months have at last given us hope to believe that what we regard as normal politics will soon become the norm in Northern Ireland, that we can all get back to the business of working out our politics in a calm, reasonable and civilised way, that all our battles will be fought within Parliament and that the decisions of Parliament will be the only ones that count.
That is especially true as we face into the problems outlined by the Uachtarán this morning in her address to both Houses. We face the problem of whether we will prove worthy of our boast that we are a hospitable people in dealing with the problems of immigration, whether we can reach out to those who have been excluded, whether we can make our mental hospitals fit for those unfortunate enough to find themselves in such hospitals and in other places of rehabilitation and whether we can do all the things upon which all Members of these Houses are agreed. There is no great difference between us on the things that really count – how we do them is where we argue.
As we face into a new millennium we can look back on 77 years of self-government of which we can be proud. That should sustain us into the coming years.
Ag am mar seo tá sé an-thábhachtach cúpla focal a rá chun a bheith cinnte thar aon rud eile about the great privilege it is to be a representative in a democratic parliament. It is important that we make these comments today because this is also the day when the publication of a document by the other House demonstrates that parliamentary privilege, another of our great privileges, can be extremely important.
The message we give today, through the meetings of the individual Houses of the Oireachtas and the meeting of the three component parts of the Oireachtas, should convey the imperative of democracy. The great imperative is to participate, to represent and to feel democratic. I believe we have questions to ask of ourselves in that regard. I was reared in a house where it was believed that to cast one's vote was a responsibility and a duty. We must ask, after 77 years of self-government, where we have failed on this front. Many of us were also reared to believe that if one could not find somebody to vote for, one had an imperative to join another party or if not, to put oneself forward. We have failed in that regard.
Today I looked at the Official Report of the first meeting of Seanad Éireann in 1922. The resonance across the decades of what the Members said at that meeting is extraordinary. Yeats said the past was dead not just for the Members but for the country. Others made the point that they had to look forward in the modern world. The view emerged, from speaker after speaker, that the great battle that confronted them in those turbulent times was to take on and defeat prejudice and narrow mindedness, the need for pluralism, to put violence behind them and, more than anything, to justify the confidence of those who put them in the Seanad.
The first debate was about the cessation of violence. What has changed or has anything changed? Another major debate in those first couple of days, which the Cathaoirleach would have found interesting, was about the fishing industry, why the fleet was not being developed and why there was a decline in fish production. The debate went on to discuss the importance of the ports for communications. One Member pointed out that there could be a saving of 34.5 hours in travelling to New York from England via Ireland as opposed to going from London to Southampton to New York. This week, the Seanad emotionally debated the importance of Knock airport for our infrastructure. Is there not a resonance, a balance and a symmetry? Are we moving on?
Carrying out a macro audit of our progress over those years, one can see that we have moved from violence to peace, from poverty to pros perity, from emigration to immigration and from huge unemployment to the highest ever levels of employment. We have seen ourselves move from being a colony and part of an empire to being a full member of a federal Europe. These are huge movements, but each one is in effect a dark window through which we do not see the full picture.
There is a clear need for us to conduct a micro audit because we could clap ourselves on the back and fool ourselves into believing that life is great and that we have achieved it all. In terms of violence, while we have moved towards peace we also have the most violent society ever in terms of murders, attacks and the safety and security of old people and people living alone. That should not be forgotten. In terms of prosperity, we have never had such a division between haves and have nots in our society as we do now. It is a reality of which we are all aware and which is a challenge to us. Also in terms of our prosperity, we must examine the scourge of drugs in our society and the caring attitude to the less well off which seems to be disappearing from society. It must be of great concern to those privileged to be Members of these Houses that in 15 years we seem to have moved from demanding equality for all in terms of opportunity, participation and treatment to the philosophy of survival of the fittest. I do not know how to address it, but it must be one of the reasons young, idealistic people worry about our management of society. One of the great political commentators of this century, John Healy, asked if were we managing an economy or a nation of people. When the relationships are examined, those matters raise issues which we must address.
What are we trying to produce? If we go back to the first principles of economics – because economics will always be important in terms of developing the nation and it was always the intention that it concern people – the first rule of economics must be that we seek a healthy, educated young population. That serves the need of the economists but we need to go beyond that as public representatives. We also need to develop a new generation which will be challenging, sceptical, questioning and, more than anything else, participative. We must develop creativity, diversity and innovation. Our challenge is to move forward in that way.
In the words used at the first meeting of the Seanad, we need to leave the past behind. Can we say, sotto voce, that there was no golden age, no age of saints and scholars? Those of us who have studied history know the suffering which existed in those days. We can yet achieve that golden age. We can have ambitions and move forward. Our objective must be to seek and develop a State of which young people feel they want to be a part, where they feel proud and motivated and have a sense of ambition to take on the role of public representation, where they feel it imperative to cast their votes, and where they feel they can improve society for the less well off.
It is appropriate, in terms of what we have discussed about the North and about division in society, that we take a broader view. Having achieved peace we should stand back and look at where we are going. It should be recognised that there is no Aryan society or single blooded group in our society; we are all intermingled and intercultural in one sense or another. We should measure our democracy in the future not just by the manner in which we treat minorities but also by the way in which we welcome outsiders, immigrants, refugees and others to a new multicultural, pluralist and tolerant society where our maturity and tolerance will be measured not just by the space we give the members of each individual group to follow their dreams, practice their religion or pursue their political ambitions – it is no longer a question of creating space, although we have not done this yet – but also by the quality of the interaction and inter-relationships between the different groups in our society. That would be the golden age of saints and scholars. That is the road we should take.
It is unique to be making statements on the millennium. The end of a year is always a time to take stock while the end of a century is a time to look back over the decades but at the end of a millennium it is best to concentrate on the future. Ireland has reached the pinnacle of progress in its chequered history. For the first time we are a rich and prosperous country. According to the economic forecasts of the ESRI and other independent forecasters we are likely to get richer and become more prosperous in coming decades and beyond.
After 30 years of terrible violence in the North a new political agreement has been put together and is being carefully implemented. I hope it will finally resolve the conflicts of identity which have dominated the political landscape of this island for centuries. It has not been an easy process for some on all sides. It has involved the redefinition of concepts such as sovereignty and territory, concepts fundamental to Nationalism and Unionism and dearly held by both sides. They are at the centre of this island's understanding of itself and its history.
In the wider context we have best expressed our sovereignty by pooling it with that of others in the European Union. In so doing we are transforming our relationship with Britain and break ing free from the divisions of the past. We now work together side by side as equals and our joint membership of the European Union has been at the heart of the process.
In other ways society has changed fundamentally. Since Independence we have moved slowly and often reluctantly from a society which was introverted and authoritarian to one that is pluralist and tolerant. We are moving from an Ireland dominated by the ethos of one religious denomination to an Ireland open to all religions and none.
We recognise the damage done to our fellow citizens by the prejudice of the past. Ireland of the 21st century will be multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. To truly learn from the errors of the past we would do well to recognise these changes and prepare society for them. Our grandparents might not recognise the modern Ireland but the Ireland of our grandchildren will also bear little resemblance to ours.
Our recent advances must not blind us to the many problems that remain and the new problems which are increasing. Inequality in modern Ireland is increasing. As Senator O'Toole mentioned, the gap between rich and poor has widened substantially in recent years as a result of our economic growth. Poverty has been the defining experience of our Independence but its obscenity has been compounded in an Ireland of plenty. Proper housing, health care and education still remain out of reach for far too many of our people. Travelling to and from work has become a nightmare for all in our major cities. Finding a place of care for an elderly parent who can no longer live at home on their own is increasingly difficult for those who can afford it and impossible for those who cannot. Rural Ireland, so long the embodiment of the traditional way of life of this country, is in crisis. Changes in agriculture, uncertainty regarding the future and pressures of urbanisation, are transforming the face of Ireland.
Sadly, it is no longer a clean face either. Our lakes and rivers, once a byword for purity and cleanliness, are now polluted by a combination of intensive farming methods and untreated urban sewage. The physical waste which we now generate is growing faster than our ability to dispose of it. Proposals for new dumps or incineration increasingly meet with opposition, often paralysing local and national decision making.
In a land of increasingly material prosperity there is a growing spiritual impoverishment. Rates of suicide, particularly among young men, and the incidence of violence and abuse in the home against women and children are increasing, not declining. The sense of community which we once took for granted is diminishing as individuals are encouraged to do their own thing. Enhanced personal freedom is becoming synonymous with indifference to the needs of others. Volunteers who once provided the backbone of so many of our sporting clubs, social services and community associations are available in much smaller numbers now. Pressures of time, both at home and at work, have taken first place with many others. The pace of life and its demand for individualisation in so many of its aspects is changing the nature of our lifestyle at a frightening rate.
Never have the Irish people been so well off, yet seldom have they been so uneasy with the prospects of the future. This is the fundamental paradox which we now face at the turn of the century and the beginning of the new millennium: how to integrate our new found material wealth into a socially prosperous community, how to create a new society from a wealthy economy. For myself, the Labour Party and for all of us on the left of Irish society, the choice is becoming clearer. We consciously reject what is being offered by the present coalition Administration as "the low tax, low enterprise" model for future development. It amounts to the embracing of an American model of individual responsibility. It promotes a low tax regime to encourage individual effort. It sees a minimal role for the State in the daily affairs of the community. It is the stuff of economics, not of community. It intends that the share of public wealth invested in our communities will decline dramatically. It is a vision of the future imprisoned by the impoverished vision of the past. This view contends that taxation and public spending are heavy burdens to be at best reluctantly borne. There is no sense that a contrary view might exist, that perhaps taxation and public spending are how we express our solidarity as a community, that there may be the instruments that we use to invest in our children and their education, to provide for our sick and care for our infirm and elderly, that they may be the resources for protecting our environment and conserving our future or that perhaps taxation and public spending is the way a mature and vibrant economy can transform itself into a thriving, responsive and successful society.
The social agenda should drive the economic engine. It is right now, more than ever, to concentrate on how we distribute our new found wealth. That is the Labour Party's social democratic agenda for Ireland in the next century, the creation of a real republic in accordance with the values expressed by the first Dáil in the democratic programme in 1919, a view of the community that at last we can now begin to build.
I will outline the Ireland that we can build on this island in the ten pillars of the new republic which have been enunciated by my party leader, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, and which we can now construct for our society in the future. They are as follows. First, every citizen should have a constitutional guarantee of fundamental social and economic rights. Second, there should be full employment in a vibrant and enterprising economy. Third, the elimination of absolute poverty and homelessness should be ensured. Fourth, modern public transport and environmental management systems should be built to transform urban life and service rural communities. Fifth, adult literacy and educational disadvantage should be eliminated. Sixth, appropriate care and shelter should be provided for every elderly person and citizen with disabilities. Seventh, constitutional recognition of the rights of children and the guarantee of their protection and care should be put in place. Eighth, it is time to radically reform the health services so that access is determined by medical need, not ability to pay. Ninth, a tolerant and pluralist civic culture should be promoted, respectful of minorities, old and new. Tenth, the island of Ireland, at peace with itself and it neighbours, should play an active and positive role in the European Union and in the rest of the world, promoting peace, tolerance, justice and international solidarity.
Economic vibrancy and flexibility are desirable components in any modern economy but they are not and should never be impediments to the creation of a compassionate and just society based on citizens' rights. At the centre of a vibrant economy and caring society is the Government and the State. Its role is to act as a guarantor of citizen's rights, either through direct provision or support for voluntary activity. It must promote the bond of solidarity between the citizen and the community. That is the way forward in the new millennium, whereby we eschew the conflicts, bitterness and the civil strife which moulded the character and ethos of this island and its people for so much of the last 100 years and the last millennium. Instead the principle and the substance of the Good Friday Agreement are a beacon to direct and sustain us for the new millennium.
I am very honoured and privileged to conclude the statements on the millennium as Leader of the Seanad. None of us thought in our wildest dreams that we would be so honoured as to be Members of Seanad Éireann at such an historic time in our country's history. I became a Member of the Seanad on 7 May 1982. As previous Members have often said, it is an honour and a privilege to represent our people. In this concluding address to the Oireachtas, I remember those public representatives who elected us to become their representatives and voice our opinions in the interests of the nation. We are, and will always be, deeply indebted to them.
We meet on the last sitting day of the Houses of the Oireachtas in this century and this millennium. We in the Seanad carry out our work on behalf of the Irish people and are conscious that we follow in the footsteps of the men and women before us. Relatives of Members of this House went on to be Members of the Dáil or Seanad or became Members of Government. It is wonderful to be serving with people of such calibre in the Seanad.
As we prepare to enter a new century, we leave behind a century when our ancient nation reached an historic time. Ireland achieved its Independence after great sacrifice and that was followed by the achievement of a Republic. The predecessors of Senators from all sides of the political divide were directly involved in the struggle for independence and the desire to build an inclusive society. It was their mission to put an independent country on the map which would, in the words of Robert Emmett, "take her place among the nations of the earth". We, in the Seanad, know we carry on this awesome legacy and we do so to the best of our ability.
To echo the comments made by the President during this morning's joint sitting in acknowledgment of the contributions made by our senior citizens, they will remember spending their childhood days in the early years of this country when poverty and deprivation stalked the land. Looking back over the past 100 years, our country has completely changed. For many poorer nations, Ireland stands as an example of what a determined people can do for themselves.
When people speak about recent developments in Ireland, which is the fastest growing OECD economy, they often refer to an "economic miracle". I would take the view that our current position is an economic achievement resulting from hard work and investment.
A generation ago we devoted much effort to the fundamentals of our economy in preparation for full membership of Europe. During the 1950s and 1960s, we opened up our economy to trade and foreign investment. The Government of the day also took important decisions to invest in our most important national resource, our people. We did this across a range of social services but, most significantly, by expanding educational opportunities and access to them. I pay tribute to the teaching profession which formed the backbone of our economic recovery and helped to bring us to the position in which we are today. I also pay tribute to the religious communities which made a massive contribution to our development since the last millennium. Irrespective of how bad economic conditions were over the past 30 years, all Governments sought to maintain educational investment. This tradition is being continued through huge expenditure on universities and information technology.
Ireland is now a confident, free and forward looking Republic which has come of age. The Republic's founding fathers would be well pleased with the progress achieved in the first century of our freedom. I join with Senator Manning in paying tribute to W.T. Cosgrave and Éamon de Valera. People do not give Éamon de Valera the credit due to him. I pay tribute, together with Senator Manning, to the great work carried out by these two great Irishmen at an important juncture in our country's history. I also acknowledge the leading roles played by many other Taoisigh.
Our nation has moved from being regarded with benign affection to being a place in which something extraordinary is adjudged to have taken place. From being the poorest of Europe's rich, Ireland now enjoys levels of prosperity and economic success of which we could only have dreamed in the past. An admiring world looks on as we continue to bring our great potential as a nation to fruition.
The lifeblood of our country, our young people, no longer haemorrhage from our shores in vast numbers. Those who had departed previously hasten to return to avail of the many new opportunities. This transition did not come about without serious effort and endeavour. It was the discipline and vision of our people that gave the moral impetus to the Dáil and Seanad, to successive Governments and to the social partners to transform this Republic into what we have today.
Looking back on my membership of this House, the one thing that transformed the economy was the creation of social partnership. We can all remember the mid-1980s and the difficulties the Government had in facing the challenges. It was the creation of social partnership that transformed what was happening then to the successes of the past 12 to 14 years, and it is only right and fitting that we in this House should acknowledge the efforts of Governments and participants in it. The social partners – employers, trade unions, farmers, everyone who took part – have been more than responsible. I congratulate and salute them for their efforts in bringing the country to where it is today.
Despite confidence as a nation and the admiration in which we are held abroad, we in this House must never lose sight of the fact that not all of our people have benefited equally. As parliamentarians, we have a special responsibility to assist in the building of a Republic which values all its people and where social inclusion is a reality, not an empty catch-phrase.
As the twilight of this century and millennium approaches, this island as a whole is entering a bright new era. The heart-breaking years of destruction and death which ravaged Northern Ireland and at times spilled over into our Republic seem at last to be over. Only this week, we witnessed the first meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in the historic city of Armagh. A former esteemed Member of this House, Séamus Mallon, must be a very proud man to have that event happening in his own city this week. The symbolism and significance of this day for all the people and traditions on this island cannot be underestimated. The North-South Council and the North-South Implementation Bodies which will see its practical operation offer to people on both parts of this island opportunities for co-operation and mutual respect which could only have been dreamed of less than a generation ago. We could not in our wildest dreams have imagined that we would see it before the end of this century.
The Taoiseach did us the honour of addressing the House on Tuesday evening last on the significance of what has been achieved. We salute him and the Government, and all previous Taoisigh and their Governments, for their commitment to bringing us to the exciting place in which we now find ourselves. None of us can predict the future. Certainly, none of us will be here a century from now. We can, however, expect with a degree of confidence to see our country continue to make its impact on the world out of proportion to its size. Not only is the Celtic tiger now a widely recognised species of economic success, but to be Irish is to belong to a vibrant country exuding confidence.
While remaining firmly fixed on protecting family values, the elderly and the disadvantaged, Ireland is now prouder than ever of what we are as a people. Our literature, art, music, sports people and general culture continue to fascinate the world and draw people to our shores. I would like to salute the many people who have been going abroad over the past decades and have been excellent ambassadors for our country and its achievements.
This growing confidence in our Irishness is not a reflection of superiority. It is simply a reflection of a country and a people at peace with itself and a celebration of what we have to offer to the world. We are on the eve of a new millennium and as we prepare to cross into it we do so, in the words of our dear President, as a nation in its stride.
I wish all Members a happy and holy Christmas and I look forward to participating here in 2000 with the honoured Members of Seanad Éireann.
Before adjourning for the last time this century and this millennium, I wish every Member and all the staff of the House a very happy and joyful Christmas and a peaceful and happy new year and new millennium.
The Seanad adjourned at 3.25 p.m. sine die.