There is just one matter that I would like to refer to before the business of the House concludes. It is a matter of national and historic importance. As it has some bearing on yourself, sir, perhaps I might ask that some other member of the House would take the Chair.
PRIVATE BUSINESS. - RETIREMENT OF AN CATHAOIRLEACH.
CATHAOIRLEACH
I think that is the usual course. As Senator Linehan is the senior Senator on the panel, perhaps he would be good enough to take the Chair.
An Cathaoirleach left the Chair, which was then taken by Senator Linehan.
Before we separate to-day there is a matter to which I should like to refer, a matter of national and historical importance. Seanad Eireann has now completed the sixth year of its life. Six years ago we assembled in a room in the National Museum, as one of the Houses of the first really free Parliament that had assembled in Ireland since the Normans landed on our shores. Previous Irish Parliaments had asserted their freedom, but even in Grattan's Parliament that freedom was to some extent illusory. When we met in 1922 we met as a free House of a free Parliament, and even though we do not legislate for the whole territory with the four seas of Erin, we stand as an integral part of the first unfettered Government Ireland has known since the landing of Strongbow.
Our first duty was to elect a Chairman to preside over our deliberations, and we elected to that position Lord Glenavy. Ever since that day he has occupied the Chair at our meetings. No chairman could have been more faithful in his attendance. He has given such a lead to the deliberations of this House as only a man of his great experience in legal and parliamentary matters could have given. When we look back on Lord Glenavy's career we see that he has occupied every legal position of first importance in the country. He has been in turn Attorney-General, Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor, but I think he will not contradict me when I say that of all the positions he has held he will look back with most satisfaction to the one he now holds, and which he is shortly to relinquish—the first Cathaoirleach of the first Seanad Eireann.
Speaking as I do now, to the assembly over which he has ably presided since its formation, and over which he will only for a few days longer preside, I think it is not necessary for me to elaborate my praise. We have all seen his ability in the Chair, we have all had experience of his tact, of his wonderful rapidity of decision, of his great grasp of law. He has left his mark on the legislation of our country. He has set a high standard for his successor to follow.
There is one quality of his to which I should like to make special reference, and that is to his unfailing sense of humour. Lord Glenavy has again and again been able, by a timely quip or sometimes even a particularly audacious pun, to turn wrath into laughter, and to leave friendship where strife was.
We are an assembly of men of differing views; in some cases it is hardly untrue to say that our outlook is diametrically opposed. Our Cathaoirleach is a man whose views have always been well known and forcibly and fearlessly expressed, but in this House we can say that, however opposed we may be in opinion, we are all friends. I doubt if there is in the world a House of Parliament where there is so real a sense of unity and comradeship as in this Seanad, and if there is one man to whose conduct this goodwill is more due than to another, it is to our Cathaoirleach.
He came in a time of storm. When we first met, which of us knew, when he returned to his home, that he would not find that, instead of sitting at his cheerful hearth, he might warm his hands at his blazing roof tree. Which of us knew that when he retired to rest he might not wake to sounds of war and death. He leaves us in peace. He leaves us, having learned that our differences can be settled by argument, and that our controversial artillery, if not infallible, is at least efficacious. But we must not forget that in accepting the post of Cathaoirleach, Lord Glenavy not only accepted the danger in which every member of the Seanad lived, but singled himself out for special attack. I am glad to say that he did not suffer in person, but he did not hesitate to run the extra danger.
This brings me to reflect that, besides our Cathaoirleach, there are others of our original members who are leaving us; men of distinction; men who have done honour to the nation in divers fields. I shall not name them, but I think that we should, in our hearts, include them in the good wishes with which we speed our parting Chairman. They represent our literary, commercial and public life. They, too, stood firm in 1922. Some of them had to suffer in person and property losses which were irreparable, but not one of them flinched. We hope that we shall have some of them with us in the new Seanad, but some we know we shall not have; they have decided to withdraw to private life; our thanks go out to them all.
Our Cathaoirleach has decided not to seek re-election. No man has worked harder than he; no man better deserves to rest; but I am sure that he will not lose interest in this House, in the formation of which he has had the greatest part. He has guided us through the most difficult part of the journey, and has set us on a path. In his retirement we may feel sure that his good counsel will be as generously available as it has always been to those who seek it.
I therefore beg to move:—
"That at the conclusion of its Second Triennial period, Seanad Eireann desires to place on record its deep appreciation of the services of its first Cathaoirleach, the Right Hon. Lord Glenavy, upon the occasion of his retirement from the House."
I have very much pleasure in seconding the motion moved by Senator Bennett and in adding my testimony to the tribute so deservedly paid to Senator Lord Glenavy for his very capable chairmanship during the first six critical years of our new and inexperienced Assembly. When we first met we had to contend with all the disadvantages that an Assembly meeting for the first time has to contend with, aggravated by political conditions outside of a very abnormal kind. We were merely an assembly of people mostly unknown to each other, without Standing Orders or machinery of any kind, and without any previous Parliamentary traditions to guide us in our deliberations. We were faced with the task of formulating our Standing Orders, of creating the necessary machinery, and by our general conduct of public affairs of establishing an honourable Parliamentary tradition. Taking all the circumstances of the times into account, I hope it is not too much to say that our efforts have been attended with a considerable amount of success. I can say, from intimate and personal knowledge, that a very great deal of that success has been due, particularly in the early and critical days of the infant Assembly, to the vast legal and Parliamentary experience and the great abilities of Senator Lord Glenavy.
I have a vivid recollection of the early meetings of the Seanad, and the masterly and tactful manner in which he endeavoured to keep a very raw Assembly within at least the outward walls of the Standing Orders. His task was by no means an easy one, particularly in the case of impetuous business Senators fresh from the disorders of directors' meetings. Whenever any of these wayward innocents did manage to slip outside the pale his lasso was always long enough and strong enough to bring them back to the fold. He has always been the able and fearless champion of the rights and privileges of this Assembly. In this respect he has set an example which I hope his successor in office, whoever he may be, will firmly adhere to.
No party affiliation or commitment and no expediency of Government or Opposition should influence by the least degree the mind or rulings of the Chair where the rights and privileges of the House or any of its members are concerned. Although in no way interfering with the full and free discussion of all matters coming before the House, yet we have, under his chairmanship, earned for ourselves a rather unique and enviable reputation for being an Assembly of few words. Because of this distinction we have earned the jealousy and the envy of more verbose but less business-like institutions.
Many a Senator has had cause to thank the Chairman for having saved him from himself, by inducing him not to persist in an unwise or superfluous speech when silence was the most eloquent course to adopt. For what he has saved the Seanad generally by his intervention on such occasions, we have very much to be truly grateful. It will, as Senator Bennett has said, be a consolation to him, or, at least, a source of considerable satisfaction, to realise the distinction he enjoys as being the first Chairman of the first Seanad of the Saorstát. The political and social condition of the country is very much different now to what it was when he first occupied the Chair. As Senator Bennett has said, the Seanad first met amid the clash and tumult of civil war. Everything that made for public order, personal security and human progress seemed devoted to destruction.
Barely six years have passed, but these have been years brimful of historic achievements, the most notable of which has been the elimination of national strife and the restoration of peace in the land. Even though we are still, unfortunately, not immune from evils fairly common to most countries and peoples, such as unemployment, bad housing and so forth, it is a consolation to know that while Christmas of 1922 was marked by bloodshed, strife and considerable suffering, Christmas of 1928, whatever its drawbacks in other respects, will, at all events, be associated with the inestimable blessing of national peace. The position is, therefore, very much happier on the occasion of Lord Glenavy's vacating the Chair than on the occasion when he first occupied it. The tangible impulses of the nation are upwards and onwards to better days, and the Seanad has given the opportunity to almost all phases of public and economic thought to help on the infant State. That is as it should be, and as it will be in the future if we are to act in the spirit of Parnell's dictum that Ireland cannot spare a single son.
The Seanad, I am sure, unanimously thanks Senator Lord Glenavy for his unfailing courtesy, his splendid sense of humour, and for the capable and dignified manner in which he has presided over its deliberations for the past six years. We wish him many happy days in which to enjoy his well-earned retirement.
I would like to add a few words to those already spoken by Senators Bennett and O'Farrell. I had the privilege of being more closely associated with Lord Glenavy during the early days of the Seanad than perhaps any other member of the House. I did not make his acquaintance until we met in this House, and I would like to add to the category of his virtues, which has been already ably stated by Senator Bennett and Senator O'Farrell, his personal kindness. I was a young man; I had the cheek often to quarrel with him, and I must have been a terrible nuisance.
He treated me with every kind of kindness and forbearance. I would like also to say, listening to the able address of Senator Bennett, and afterwards to Senator O'Farrell, that there is one other point I could possibly add to those referred to by them. I think there is one, and that is that Lord Glenavy was always optimistic. His speeches, right from the beginning of the Free State, were optimistic. He was optimistic of the Seanad; he was optimistic of those of us who knew very little of Standing Orders and about Parliamentary procedure. I am glad to see that last night again there was a note of optimism in a public speech he made with reference to this country. I do not think there is any other man in Ireland who could get out of difficulties better than Lord Glenavy or anyone else who could have got us out of difficulties in the way he did. On one occasion—I hope he will forgive me if I relate an anecdote—in the early days of the Seanad, owing to illness of a member of his family, he had to be absent for about a fortnight. I deputised on a Committee for him, and agreed to certain proposals. What they were are irrelevant to the story. When he came back he made one or two criticisms of the proposals to which I had already, in his name, agreed. I felt, to say the least of it, nervous. I made the best case I possibly could in excuse for my action, and said it might be rather awkward if anyone criticised these when they came before the House. He said, "My dear fellow, leave it to me." As sure as anything a Senator did start on the very line of criticism, and you must guess my satisfaction to see my feeble arguments becoming mountains of arguments which convinced myself and the Seanad, and no one ever knew of my indiscretion.
I have not always agreed with Lord Glenavy. I was politically opposed to him at the beginning, but this thing I can truthfully say, that whatever may have happened during the last six years, he has, as far as I am concerned, made a loyal friend, because of his personal kindness to me. Senator Bennett said he thought there was a good deal of personal good feeling and courage. I think that was, in a fair measure, due to Lord Glenavy. I believe it is absolutely essential to national progress that men and women should be able to fight even bitterly on political questions and retain personal respect for each other at the same time. If we are able, with the loss of our Cathaoirleach, to continue with something of that spirit in this House, we certainly may have achieved something that we may be proud of, and which I know I will be proud of. I have great pleasure in associating myself with the resolution proposed by Senator Bennett.
Motion put and declared carried.
Lord Glenavy, it gives me great pleasure to tender to you this unanimous resolution of the Seanad. I wish to say that I endorse every word of the speakers in praise of your conduct in the Chair.
I do not mean to pretend that I did not listen with feelings of very deep emotion to the splendid tribute of which I have been a recipient at the hands of my colleagues in this House. When we assembled here six years ago, the first day we met, I say with all honesty and sincerity, that no man was more surprised than I was when some friends in the House said that they were going to put me forward for the Chair. I did not expect it; I did not ask for it. It had never been suggested, even up to that moment; and I did feel, in view of the fact that my political past was known to all of you, that it was a tribute at least to your belief in my honesty and sincerity of purpose and in your belief that throughout I was acting under the firm conviction that I was doing my best for the welfare of our beloved and native land. I was appointed to the office, and we did pass through a very trying period. I did not escape the observations and attention of those who were watching us at that time. They paid me the compliment of at least six separate visits to my private house. I should say this, that I do not believe that, at any time during any of these visits, there was any intention or desire to inflict any personal injury or outrage on myself.
During my time of office I endeavoured to keep steadily before my mind three purposes; the first was to uphold the dignity and decorum of debate in accordance with the Standing Orders of this House; the next, subject to obedience to Standing Orders, to give the fullest and fairest opportunity for discussion and debate to every member of the House, and finally, to uphold with all my strength and power the rights, privileges and dignities of the House as a whole and each individual member of it. If I have accomplished anything in that respect I am vain enough to think there was at least some measure of justice in the tribute paid to me so eloquently by my friend, Senator Bennett. I have been looking through the records of this House, and I find on at least six occasions it became my duty as Chairman to protect this House from attempts that were made either to infringe upon the dignity and the privileges of the House or some member of it, or else to influence or persuade the House to act in a way that seemed to me to be in violation of our Constitution.
I carry away with me this personal pleasure and satisfaction, that while on some of these occasions, my determination and ruling excited some hostile criticism, in the end and ultimately I think it was agreed upon all sides that the course I had taken was right and in the best and truest interest of the House and of the Constitution. I have not very much more to say, except to remind you that during all these six years on no single occasion has it ever been necessary for me as Chairman to invoke the powers I have had under the Standing Orders for dealing with disorder or discourtesy. I think that is a great tribute to the House. It is no tribute to me, but it is a great tribute to the desire on the part of every member of the House to conform to our Standing Orders, and above all to treat its Chairman with respect and courtesy. As a consequence, though a stranger to many of you on the first day we met, I am now in the proud position of being able to say that I am a friend of each and all. More than that, I say, with all sincerity, that it is not only a case of respect and regard, but of real and true affection that I entertain for each and every one of you. I should certainly be very ungrateful if that were not the result of a constant and unvarying experience of kindness and courtesy, and ready and prompt submission to all my rulings. On consideration of every circumstance of my position I am glad also to bring away with me the recollection that only on two occasions during those six years have I been absent from meetings of this House, and never at a single sitting did I leave during the course of business. That I felt to be my duty during our probationary period. I am quite certain and satisfied that will not be necessary for your future Chairman, but during these experimental years I thought it my duty to discharge it in that sense—to give the best of my ability to put our proceedings on a basis not only of decorum and dignity, but on a permanent basis of goodwill. I therefore carry away with me in my retirement a deep sense of gratitude to every member of the House, and while not conscious of any decay of an intellectual kind, perhaps it is not amiss that I should say that, inevitably I get indications occasionally of possible physical decay, and therefore I think it wise that, in due and proper time— interrupted years of happiness and pleasure that I spent as your Chairman —that it was due not only to you, but also to myself, and to the fact of my advancing years, that I should leave the work to be carried on by some younger man.
I only wish again, in thanking you one and all, to express my obligations to your efficient clerk and assistant clerk. I cannot speak too highly of the services they rendered to me and to you, especially by Mr. O'Sullivan. It was recently suggested to him that his office was a sinecure, but I may tell you the extraordinary thing about him is that he is always able to provide work for himself throughout office hours— work for your benefit, work in your interests, work that he himself had originated, and of which you will ultimately get your full share and benefit. I am also very proud of the assistant clerk, because I was originally responsible for recommending his selection, first of all, as one of the staff of the Oireachtas, and finally in the position which he occupies to-day. I do not think you could ask to be served by two more competent, more efficient and more courteous officials.
I also want to express my acknowledgments to the various Ministers with whom I came in contact in the course of my duties. I thought it my business —and I went out of my way—to consult their convenience in every possible way. On the other hand they met me with the same considerate spirit, and I have nothing but gratitude to tender to them for the constant, friendly, and intimate relations that existed between us. It is a hard thing to say farewell, but it has to be said, and in saying it I can only wish for each and all of you, under the new conditions in which you will meet at the close of this year— conditions novel, not only as regards the constitution of your House, but also by reason of your increased powers and responsibilities—that you will jealously guard and protect those new powers, and that you will give an example to all of us by administering them, not in the spirit of party, but in the interests of your country. So long as you do that, you need never fear for the position and reputation of this Seanad. I am very jealous of it, and I leave it with confidence in your hands and in the hands of my successor. I thank you one and all for all you have said about me. I wish you health, long life, and prosperity to each and all. Before concluding may I just add one note, and that is to say that I think I ought to refer to the extraordinary diligence with which the lady Senators attended our sittings. They were an example in that respect to all of us, and also on many occasions were very useful and helpful in giving suggestions on matters connected with our social welfare. It only remains for me to say good-bye; God bless you.
The Seanad adjourned at 5.55 p.m. until December 12th.