The next business under Standing Orders is the election of the Cathaoirleach. Under Standing Order 2, the Chair will be taken by Senator Diarmuid Wilson, who has the longest continuous period of service as a Member of the Seanad. Senator Wilson was elected on 16 July 2002 and has served continuously since then. I now call on Senator Wilson to take the Chair.
Cathaoirleach a Thoghadh - Election of Cathaoirleach
Clerk of the Seanad
Ghlac an Seanadóir Diarmuid Wilson an Chathaoir.
Senator Diarmuid Wilson took the Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, you are all very welcome for the first meeting of our new Seanad. I congratulate everybody who has been elected or selected to serve in this House. I also remember those who were, unfortunately, unsuccessful in their attempt to be re-elected to this House. It is important to remember them here today as well.
I will say a few words. First, as a Cavan man, I am delighted to be joined by four other Senators from County Cavan. I think it is the first time that has ever happened, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you in the years ahead.
I wish to especially mention Senator Joseph O’Reilly. Senator O’Reilly came to this House many years before I did, in 1989, and served here for one period before taking a sabbatical to return to his teaching profession. He eventually returned here and then took a short spell in the other place, which is known as the Lower House.
I am delighted that I may have the title of father of the House for the longest continuous service here, but I acknowledge that Senator O'Reilly is here the longest of us all. It is good to salute him.
This House is a place where individuals can show courage and be outspoken. Since its foundation, things have been said and governments have listened and been held to account. Having had the honour and privilege of being a Member of this House since 2002, not a day has passed when I have not felt thankful to those who have placed their trust in me. I thank them most sincerely for their support. I believe that the Seanad's true role is to be a check and balance on the Dáil. It is at its best as a questioning and revising Chamber that provides a vital independent voice.
I take this opportunity to thank my family for their support. Without their assistance, I would not be able to be in politics and to have served in this House for 23 years. I thank all members of the staff of this House, including the Clerk and his assistants, the official reporters, the ushers, and the catering and bar staff, and my friends across the political parties for their guidance, help and assistance over that period of time. Today, I remember those who have served with me since 2002, including those who have gone to their eternal reward.
The new Members of the Seanad will find that we are generally a happy and constructive bunch of people. However, that changes from time to time depending on the circumstances. It would be remiss of me not to mention the historic building in which we sit and how lucky we are to serve our country in the former home of the great Irish family of the patriot Lord Edward FitzGerald. I congratulate all Senators on their membership of this great House, one of the most important Houses of our Oireachtas. I wish them well for what I hope will be our five-year period.
I will now accept a proposer and seconder for any motion in relation to the election of Cathaoirleach. I call Senator O'Loughlin.
Go raibh maith agat. On behalf of the Fianna Fáil group as leader, I extend a very warm céad míle fáilte to those Senators re-elected, elected for the first time and, of course, those nominated. It is a singular honour to be a Member of this House, as Senator Wilson has pointed out. It is lovely that family members have been able to come here and join us for our first sitting day. Like many of us, I was first elected to this House during the Covid-19 pandemic five years ago, when we did not have the opportunity to have our families present. I extend a very warm welcome to all of the family members who are here. I want to single out my two brothers, Brian and Cathal, who are here representing the lilywhite brethren, along with Senator Aubrey McCarthy, who is a new Kildare Senator.
It is a great honour to nominate Senator Mark Daly for the role of Cathaoirleach. Senator Daly has served previously as Cathaoirleach of this great House with distinction and great aplomb at home and abroad. It is our contention that he would make an excellent Cathaoirleach. He would work collaboratively and respectfully across parties. This is certainly the way the Fianna Fáil group would like to start this five-year term. We want to work with everybody across the House in that manner. With that in mind, I nominate Senator Daly for the position of Cathaoirleach.
Does Senator Curley wish to second the proposal?
Yes. I will speak later on. I will let the vote proceed first of all.
Are there any other proposals? No. Senator Mark Daly has been formally proposed and seconded. As there are no other proposals, the question will be put.
Cuireadh an cheist, "Go dtoghfar an Seanadóir Mark Daly agus go rachaidh sé i gceannas an tSeanaid anois mar Chathaoirleach", agus faisnéiseadh go rabhthas tar éis glacadh leis.
Question, "That Senator Mark Daly be elected and do now take the Chair of Seanad Éireann", put and declared carried.
Leis sin, sheas Seanadóirí ina n-áiteanna agus d’fhan siad ina seasamh agus an Cathaoirleach ag dul i dtreo an Dáis.
Whereupon Senators rose in their places and remained standing while the Cathaoirleach proceeded to the Dais.
I do solemnly declare that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my knowledge and ability, execute the office of Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann without fear or favour, apply the rules as laid down by this House in an impartial and fair manner, maintain order and uphold the rights and privileges of Members in accordance with the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Seanad Éireann.
First and foremost, I thank the father of the House, Senator Wilson, for beginning this Seanad term. Senator Wilson has served with distinction in many roles and positions throughout his term of service in Seanad Éireann. He has taken on the very difficult role of Whip, which can be challenging at times and which will be more challenging in this Seanad than in most. He has also served as a party spokesperson on defence and championed the cause of the Defence Forces here and on public radio. I ask Members to recognise Senator Wilson for that long service and to give him a round of applause.
I also pay tribute to the former Senator, Deputy Buttimer, our former Cathaoirleach, who served with distinction in this House. As Senator Wilson pointed out, he has decided to go to the Lower House. We wish him all the best. When he served in this office, he served without fear or favour and in an impartial way, as everyone who has served in this role has. I propose to continue in that way. I thank my proposer, Senator O'Loughlin. Although we are on the same panel, we work well together. I also thank Senator Curley, one of our newest Members, for seconding the proposal. It is a true honour to work with all of the Members of Seanad Éireann and to listen to their ideas and proposals as to how we can work together to make this a better functioning part of our Parliament. If it were perfect, there would be no need for improvement but nothing in this world is perfect. The Members' ideas are important in that regard.
When the Minister, Deputy Foley, proposed Deputy Martin as Taoiseach in 2020, she opened by saying that to be from Kerry is a privilege and an awesome honour. That was a line from another Kerryman, John B. Keane, a man of letters and great words and wisdom. To be a Member of Seanad Éireann is also an awesome responsibility. It is a responsibility given to very few. We all know the challenges of getting here and of being involved in public life. People who serve in Seanad Éireann do not get here on anything other than their merits, hard work, dedication and relentless effort.
The past 12 months have been some of the most extraordinary in human history. Of the world's population, some 3.7 billion people were entitled to vote. That is the most people ever entitled to vote in the history of humanity.
In 72 countries elections took place, with Ireland being one of them. We are one of the few countries, one of only 14 countries, that have been continuous democracies for the past 100 years. To be in that small group is truly important. To stay in that small group is always a challenge.
We should never take democracy for granted. We have seen democracies slip under the tide in the last ten years and we cannot assume that we will continue to be one just because we have always been one. We worry about our friends in other countries who are facing challenges in respect of their democracies. That is why in the last Seanad we held a public consultation on the future of local democracy, the key recommendation of which was the establishment of a task force on the future of local democracy to look at all the elements of our local government. Local democracy is the bedrock for national democracy. Many Senators have served in local government. That is how our democracy works. Our national government is based on our local government in many senses. We succeeded in getting the key recommendation that there would be a task force established by the Government in the programme for Government, and I look forward to working with Members in how the Seanad will play a role in that process over the next number of years.
Regarding the reforms we made in the last Seanad, we built bridges. We invited the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords to address us in Seanad Éireann. It was the first time ever the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords addressed these Houses, a historic bridge-building exercise. We also worked with our colleagues in Northern Ireland. The Speaker invited the American Irish State Legislators Caucus to Northern Ireland to see for themselves how the United States was responsible for not only making the peace process possible, but also its involvement, and its continued involvement, in ensuring the peace process continues. Edwin Poots hosted those Irish-American legislators and is working with them on how we as an island can build bridges to our cousins in the United States of America, across the 50 states. That is as important now as ever.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American War of Independence, in which the Irish played a key role. We look forward to celebrating with them that struggle for independence which reminds us all that while they were there for us during our peace process and during our struggle for independence, some 250 years ago it was the Irish that were there for the United States of America. Lord Mountjoy lamented in the British Parliament, “We have lost America to the Irish.”
In this role, many initiatives were brought forward in relation to the scrutiny of legislation. That is what we do; we are ultimately legislators. One of the committees we established in the last Seanad was the Seanad Select Committee on the Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments. Now, if that is not the most boring title for a committee in the history of humanity, I would be challenged to come up with a less exciting title. However, the work of that committee is important because up to that point, legislation that was coming from Europe was being added to by Government Departments. No TD, Senator or Oireachtas committee would see it before it was signed into law. Approximately 70% of our legislation every year is made in that manner. The Seanad committee is now responsible, and will continue to be responsible, for making sure members of the public, who are entitled to see what laws are being made on their behalf by their Government, know this legislation is seen by the legislators before it is signed into law.
We stand on the shoulders of giants. Senator Wilson has pointed out the many who have gone before us, who sat in this Chamber, and often championed unpopular causes. Mary Robinson, during Seanad 100, outlined how she sometimes could not even get a seconder for some of her proposals that we would take for granted today. Those voices, often minority voices, became majority voices over time. We obviously remember today our great friend and colleague, Senator Norris, who sat in this Chamber and championed the cause of minorities who had no other voice, and no possibility of another voice, in the Parliament.
I see Senator Higgins nodding her head, her father too championed many causes here. Of course, W. B. Yeats made many speeches here and Senator McDowell is an aficionado of his great comment that we are no petty people, and indeed we are not.
We are here standing on the shoulders of giants and I will finish by expressing gratitude to my own family. My father is here today, my mother is watching online, and my sister Elaine and my brothers John and Conor are here today as well. I thank my campaign team of nieces and nephews: Cara, Caoimhe, Clionadh, Cillian, Ruairí, Yvonne, Lucy, Dylan and Seánie. They are a great campaign team although they are not too enthusiastic about stuffing envelopes sometimes. Without them I would not be here. Finally, I thank Grace Coyle, who is not here at all, my good friend and a great champion of all my campaigns. She will work with all present along with me to ensure we make this country a better place. That is simply our role. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir. I call the Leader of the House, Senator Kyne.
I congratulate you on your appointment, a Chathaoirligh, and wish you every success in the coming years. I acknowledge your family and the presence of your father. All the members of your family have assisted you so much. I recognise the Cathaoirleach as somebody who has a great love of this institution. He is an institutionalist in respecting the constitutional role of this institution. He had a number of innovations in his previous term as Cathaoirleach and I am sure there are more to come in that regard. He has developed strong links with and has a great affinity for the United States of America. I certainly hope those links will be of use over the coming years in what could be turbulent times. I wish him well in those and in the Irish-American caucus which he has worked so hard on as well.
I acknowledge the former Cathaoirleach, Deputy Jerry Buttimer, and congratulate him on his appointment as Minister of State. I remember as well the outgoing Leader of the House, Lisa Chambers, on her retirement from politics. I also acknowledge Paddy Burke, the outgoing father of the House, and congratulate Senator Wilson on assuming the office of father of the House. Senator Wilson mentioned five Senators from Cavan. We from Galway can beat that. We have myself and Senator P. J. Murphy, Senator Ollie Crowe, Senator Rónán Mullen, Senator Craughwell, Senator Higgins and Senator Curley from the great County of Galway. I am not sure if anyone can surpass that. Do not mind the Dubs. And with Senator Rabbitte there are eight of us; excellent.
I congratulate all Members elected to this House. It is a great honour. I also remember those who, unfortunately, were not re-elected or elected. It can be a gruelling campaign to be on the road but it is a privilege to serve. We should never forget the privilege and the opportunities we have garnered from that. I look forward to working with the Cathaoirleach over the coming years and indeed with all Members of this House in the business and day-to-day running of the House.
I join in congratulating everybody who has been elected and re-elected. Specifically, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. He understands very well, of course, that the mandate as Cathaoirleach is not a mandate from Government but a mandate from the House and from all across the Seanad. In his previous term as Cathaoirleach, he showed that he understood very well that responsibility to the Seanad and recognised the crucial role the Seanad plays as a check and balance within our political system. It is not the property of the Executive but represents parliamentary power, parliamentary scrutiny and those responsibilities. I am very glad to have somebody who has that depth of care for scrutiny and for ensuring we look to our role as legislators and someone who is not complacent about democracy. The checks and balances we have are crucial in terms of democracy and law, both here and internationally.
It is a time when the seriousness with which we take our political role and our role in terms of the law, internationally and nationally, will be a crucial test. It is absolutely the case that we are the guardians in ensuring the continuation of those powers and capacities.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. I look forward to his many schemes and initiatives. He had dozens of them in his previous half-term in office, so I do not know what he will do with a full term. I am sure we will all get many very interesting calls about many ideas. It is really important that we, and even the Leader of the House, carry through the respect for democracy so we do not have, for example, small cuts away at democracy like the guillotining of Bills, the shortening of debates or the kind of winner-takes-all approach we sometimes see in politics, to its detriment. Instead, we must really give space and respect to the Seanad in this new term. Again, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. I look forward very much to working with him and all the Members in the term ahead.
I thank Senator Higgins.
Ar son na gComhaltaí Neamhspleácha sa Teach seo, is mian liom comhghairdeas a bhronnadh ort, a Chathaoirligh, tar éis duit a bheith tofa mar Chathaoirleach arís.
The Cathaoirleach mentioned in his few words a number of things that go to the heart of our function in this House. One of them is being part of the democratic function of the State. It is the case that the process of reform is slowly taking place on this occasion. The two constituencies that I, Deputy Higgins and four other Senators represent will no longer be in place and we will have a new system for electing representatives from the graduates of Irish institutions of higher education and the universities. That minor reform of the way in which one tenth of the membership of this House is elected is a step forward, but there is, as the Cathaoirleach mentioned in his few words, the important point that, as in democracies across the world, ordinary citizens, regardless of whether they have a university degree or have been privileged to have participated in higher education, should have the same right and entitlement to a say in the composition of this House as graduates of third level institutions.
It seems the logic of what the Cathaoirleach has said about the importance of popular participation in the democratic process means we cannot aspire to having this House re-elected time and again on the basis that two thirds or three quarters of the citizens of the State are excluded from the democratic process while a smaller fraction, perhaps up to a million in the end, get to vote because they have had the privilege of higher education. For that reason, I reiterate, at the beginning of this session, my absolute determination to keep to the fore the process of reform of how Members of this House are elected. It is not that I in any sense dismiss or devalue the indirect process whereby county councillors, Members of the Dáil and outgoing Members of the Seanad have a say in the composition of this House, but the Manning report and the Seanad Reform Implementation Group both came up with what I consider to be a reasonable compromise, namely that a majority of the Members of this House would be elected by a one-person, one-vote system, whereas a minority would be elected by members of local authorities and Members of the Oireachtas. Maurice Manning, a former Senator, TD and president of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, devised that formula within the terms of the Constitution. It does not require a referendum to implement it. It seems the time has come for all Members of this House to understand there are those who look to people like me and the rest of us and ask why we are here and what is so special about us such that they do not have a vote in the same way as university graduates do.
I hope that people will take it not in any sense as devaluing their election. I know how difficult it is to be elected to this House under the present system. Sometimes it is more difficult to be elected indirectly than it is directly. However, I hope those people who have been lucky enough to be indirectly elected to this House will see that the case for reform has never been as strong as it is now, especially since the higher education franchise is to be extended to probably up to one million people.
With those few words I want to reiterate my congratulations to the Cathaoirleach. I fully endorse what Senator Higgins said about his track record in terms of reform and what he said about the statutory instruments being scrutinised before they become law and, indeed, the failure of the Houses of the Oireachtas to take seriously at all the process of engagement with the European Parliament legislative process, which, unfortunately, is practically zero in this day and age. We can do more. We can contribute more to the formulation of laws for our country.
I will make a final remark. We do not know the process whereby Senator Daly became the agreed candidate to be nominated for the position of Cathaoirleach today; we can only read the tea leaves. If the tea leaves are to be believed, however, he had healthy competition from very fine candidates and that means that all the more congratulations are due to him for being elected in the face of such fine competition.
I offer a hearty comhghairdeas to Senator Daly on his election as Chair of the Seanad. I also congratulate all other Seanad Members on their election or appointment to this House. I look forward very much to working with everyone in this House in the time ahead.
It is a great honour for me to be elected to this institution having served for quite a long time on the northern side of the Border. I am a citizen of County Armagh. I have a very particular experience of life and the difficulties in Border communities and the difficulties partition presents to them, and the opportunities that exist in terms of all-island collaboration on matters like health, transport, agriculture, agrifoods and the all-Ireland economy, which was a particular focus of mine when I served as Minister for the Economy in the northern Executive. I intend to continue that work as part of my role as a Seanadóir and as part of a 45-member-strong Oireachtas team of Sinn Féin representatives. I am very pleased that I have been asked to be the leader of our Seanad team in that regard.
We will pursue a very progressive agenda and, of course, in this House we intend to work very collaboratively and constructively with all to try to ensure we hold the Government to account on very critical issues around housing, health and other matters and to ensure that some of the promises that have been undertaken and not yet delivered, particularly in terms of the number of houses but also on other issues, are delivered over the course of this mandate and that we move away from the current focus, which seems to be on expanding the Cabinet and creating super junior Ministers, to the real issues of the day. Of course, my colleague, Deputy Pa Daly, currently has a case before the courts with regard to that matter. I expect the courts will give us clarity and that we will continue in this House to hold the Government to account.
I believe the defining issue in the coming years will be the constitutional question. There is a great opportunity for this House to play a role in that and begin the necessary discussions and preparations, in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement principles, which will value respect, inclusivity and dialogue with people who consider themselves British, Irish or neither across this island and try to build a better future for all the people who live on this island. That is the way forward.
I see an opportunity for all of us to begin that work. The Cathaoirleach referenced the good relationships he has with the speaker of the assembly and others. That work will be vital in the time ahead. We need to get down to the preparation work.
Of course, an opportunity is coming up in the autumn in voting for a President. It would have been a significant opportunity had the issue of allowing voting rights been grasped by the previous administration, especially for citizens who live north of the Border and for citizens more widely. It is to be hoped that we can, over the course of this mandate, press the Government to deliver on a commitment that it made and that the constitutional investigation into these issues recommended.
This is a very uncertain time internationally. We all have a concern about what is shaping up under the new Administration in America. It is vital for security of jobs to make sure that we chart a very steady course on that. Ireland has the opportunity of the Presidency of the European Union in the time ahead. Again, that presents a very significant opportunity to bring some sense and calmness to international issues, including the daily issue of Palestine, in particular Gaza, and the inflicting of huge atrocities on citizens there. That is something this House must turn its attention to in the time ahead.
I once again congratulate the Chair very much on his appointment. I look forward to working with him in the time ahead in the group that I will lead in the Seanad. I look forward to working constructively with all other Seanadóirí to try to achieve all that we can for the people of Ireland throughout all its Thirty-two Counties.
Congratulations to the Cathaoirleach and all my colleagues in this room, including people who have been here previously and new Senators like myself. It is such an honour and a privilege to be in this space. It is very humbling to hear everyone speaking and to be here with them. I look forward to serving people throughout this country very diligently in this role for however long it may be. This House has historically had a very collegiate culture. That is something I wish to bring forward. Working with colleagues in the Chamber across the political spectrum is something that is very important to me. I hope to hold the Government to account in my role on issues such as housing, healthcare, disability rights and making sure that we can build resilient communities in this country.
I am a Belfast woman living in the south east. It is incredibly important to me to be a voice for people across this island, when we think about the future of the island and how we can work together in communities from different backgrounds, and make sure people are taken into account in that space. As has been discussed, we live in very uncertain times. These are times of conflict and war in Palestine and Ukraine. There is conflict in the DRC and Sudan. In that space, it is very important that as a neutral country we do not get pulled into political dynamics against the will of the Irish people. I truly believe that Ireland's role in the international space is, and should continue to be, being a leader on issues of peace. We can only credibly do that while we maintain our neutrality.
I am a child of the Good Friday Agreement. It was great to hear the Cathaoirleach talk about the importance of the peace process in Northern Ireland. With that in mind, and I have led my life and worked in peacebuilding, peace must be our ultimate goal in all the work we do, whether that is at home or internationally. Again, when we talk about our neutrality, that can undermine the ultimate objective of peace. Domestically, we cannot have resilient communities that thrive and prosper if people are not able to live in peace. That means they need a safe and secure place to live. They need access to affordable healthcare, disability rights and reliable public services. When 500,000 adult children are living in their childhood home and children are growing up in emergency accommodation, these people are not living at peace.
When I work with colleagues as a Senator, I will be putting in peace in all its various forms so that we can deliver meaningful change for communities in Ireland and abroad.
We have a very special guest. She is the youngest guest here and is napping at the moment. Lasairfhíona is the first grandchild of Senator Joe Conway and his wife Sandra. She is 12 weeks old today. We congratulate her parents and grandparents, and Senator Conway on his election.
He first ran for election to Seanad Éireann in the 1970s; is that right?
In 1981.
Sorry, 1981. If ever there was a case of try harder, fail better, try harder and succeed, it is Joe, for his perseverance and persistence. For that and for his grandchild, I congratulate him.
Another special guest here today is Sabina Higgins. She is most welcome to our Distinguished Visitors Gallery, back to the Chamber where her husband made a great name for himself. In her own right, she is a great champion of causes. In Kenmare, we fondly remember her visit to open Cumann na mBan Park, which happened to coincide with the graduation for the entire school. It was a great day in Kenmare and we were proud that she opened the first public park in the ownership of the State in the town of Kenmare. We were delighted to have her there and we are delighted to have her here today. By the way, her daughter is doing an excellent job and has been holding the Government to account for many years in legislation.
A Chathaoirligh and fellow Seanadóirí, táim an-bhuíoch as a bheith anseo. It is an honour to give my maiden contribution to the Seanad. I come to the Seanad in a spirit of collaboration, from the rebel county of Cork. I am proud to wear my red and white today. The urgent issues that we face, including housing, climate action, transport, healthcare and economic justice, demand ambition and our collective collaboration. In an era of misinformation and disinformation, this Chamber has a duty to foster considered and factual debate. I was proud to campaign passionately for the retention of the Seanad in 2013. I know that this House has the power to effect meaningful change, but we must press forward with Seanad reform.
I believe that progressive change is possible because I have lived through it, taken part in it and seen it happen directly. This year marks ten years since we passed marriage equality in Ireland. That was a defining moment for our nation. Many of us who grew up gay in this country never would have thought that moment would happen. Similarly, in 2018, repealing the eighth amendment was a moment that many of us, men and women, never thought we would see either. We need to continue with this. We cannot become complacent when it comes to minority rights, LGBTQ rights and women's rights. We need to ensure that the hard-won rights are not rolled back.
Many of my generation, because we have seen so much change, believe that a united Ireland is possible in our lifetime, one that is inclusive, prosperous and peaceful for all living on this island. I believe the Government must not shirk its responsibility to prepare for a border poll. I believe that we will see decriminalisation of drug users and a healthcare approach to addiction in this country, which will utterly transform our society for the better. I believe we will see more than one progressive left government during my lifetime. Those of us who believe in that vision need to work together collectively and collaboratively.
Ireland's housing crisis is the greatest social injustice of a generation. An entire generation has been locked out of homeownership and that security. Housing is a right, not a privilege. Too many families are struggling to access basic services for their loved ones. The lack of school places for children with additional needs is an unacceptable failure in our society. Every child deserves an inclusive, accessible education. Teachers, lecturers, special needs assistants and early years educators must be valued through their pay and working conditions. We must invest in our higher and further education institutions.
I look forward to working with all Senators to build a fairer, more equal and more just Ireland. I offer my sincere congratulations to the Cathaoirleach on his appointment. I look forward to working with him during the term of this Seanad.
Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a ghabháil leis an gCathaoirleach and again congratulations to all the Senators elected and here this afternoon. It is a proud day for all of us, our families, my wife, Jennie, and Kitty and Stephen. We took them out of school this morning for this special occasion.
It is important to have them here for such an occasion.
As the Cathaoirleach is aware, I spent quite an amount of time in the ministerial chair in the Seanad during the last Dáil term, bringing forward legislation as Minister of State, and often in fear when Senator Higgins took to her feet. Among that legislation was the Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, the Planning and Development Act and the Electoral Reform Act, and we have talked quite a bit about electoral reform in our contributions this afternoon. I can say, hand on heart, that those significant pieces of legislation were improved greatly by the contributions of Members of this House. That highlighted, and continues to highlight, the significance of this House in improving and strengthening the robustness of our legislative process. The legislation that I was involved in was all the better for the incredible work of Senators in this House.
I pay tribute to my former Green Party Senator colleagues. We had a difficult election but part of this for us is that it is important to keep on the agenda the wider issues around climate and nature. We have a big task of work to do in this sitting of the Seanad in terms of nature restoration, looking at the weather events of recent weeks and embedding and ensuring that a strong and resilient nature is good for our food security, is good in the face of climate change and is going to improve water quality up and down the country. For me, working with farmers and the farming community will be vital and I would like to put emphasis on that in this Seanad term.
I again congratulate all Senators across the House. I welcome the comments regarding the debate that I took part in on the future of local government. I believe local government is a sleeping giant and has immense potential, but it is not being fully realised. For far too long, its role and function have been constrained and held back. Nonetheless, there is immense potential, as we have seen regarding climate action, nature restoration and putting biodiversity officers into our local authorities, and I note the role of the elected members in ensuring those officers have a significant job to do. I welcome the establishment of that task force and look forward to participating in it.
I congratulate Members on their election and look forward to working across the House with all elected Senators in the coming years.
All of the groups have made a contribution and it is open to any Senator to indicate that they wish to speak. I call Senator Pauline Tully.
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leat agus tú tofa mar Chathaoirleach. I congratulate you, Senator Daly, on your appointment as Cathaoirleach, a position that you have held before. I know that you were very fair and impartial and I trust that you will continue to work in that vein. I also congratulate all Seanadóirí, whether elected or nominated. It is a great privilege to be a Member of this House. Gabhaim buíochas leis na Seanadóirí, na Teachtaí Dála agus na comhairleoirí contae go léir a thug tacaíocht dom i dtoghchán an tSeanaid. I thank all of the outgoing Senators, TDs and county councillors for their support for me during the election to the educational and cultural panel.
I served in the last term as a TD in the Lower House and as a representative for Cavan-Monaghan, and I am one of those Cavan representatives whom Senator Wilson was referring to. While in the Dáil, I was Sinn Féin spokesperson on disability and carers. I continue to have a very keen interest in those areas and I know it is an interest I share with many Members of this House. I was a member of the Committee on Disability Matters and the Committee on Autism. I heard regularly about the barriers and inequality faced by people with disabilities or people who are autistic, whether it concerned community supports for children with additional needs, respite services, residential services, community support or our employment record for disabled people, given we have the worst record in the whole of the EU for the employment of disabled people. It is an area where we need to do a lot of work to ensure we bring equality to all people who have a disability, whether born or acquired, particularly children with additional needs.
When I was my party's spokesperson for carers, I worked closely with Family Carers Ireland and others who shared an interest in the removal of the means test for carer's allowance. Sinn Féin was the first political party to announce it would remove the means test for carer's allowance. I know it is included in the programme for Government and I hope it will be addressed in this Government term. It is vital because it is a sector in our country that does valuable work but has been forgotten about.
I come from an educational background so I have a keen interest in education as well. The two areas cross in respect of children with additional needs and their education. Every September, many of our children do not have a school place or do not have an appropriate school place. That needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. I look forward to working with others in this House to ensure that happens.
I congratulate the new Cathaoirleach and look forward to working with him and all of my colleagues in the House.
Anois, an Seanadóir Shane Curley.
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a ghabháil leat as ucht a bheith tofa mar Chathaoirleach inniu. I offer congratulations to the Cathaoireach on his new role and wish him the best of luck for the next few years in the work ahead.
It is a huge honour to be standing in this Chamber as a Senator. It is a proud day for my family, my neighbours at home in Raheen and the people of the Loughrea area, who gave me my chance by electing me twice to Galway County Council. It is also a proud day for my fellow members in Fianna Fáil, who gave me so much support over the years. I campaigned on two primary issues, the first of which was local government reform, which I believe in. There is acceptance around this Chamber that local government needs to be reformed. The powers of councillors at local level have been eroded over the years and councillors want to play a more meaningful role in their local authorities. To the councillors who placed their faith in me, I say that I have heard them loud and clear. I know the issues they face. I want more powers for councillors at local level. Their conditions need to be improved. I am here to be the best advocate for them that I can be.
The second issue was education. I thank the TUI, the ASTI and the Institute of Guidance Counsellors for nominating me as their candidate. As a secondary school teacher, I want to be a strong voice for education in the Seanad and to work with them. To my fellow teachers around the country, I say that I know the demands of the role they play and I want to be a strong advocate for them in the coming years. To the students I taught in Dublin, as a newly qualified teacher, and at home in the Presentation College in Athenry, I say that I know second level education needs to change and that students' experience in classrooms around the country could be much better. I cannot wait to get to work for them.
I was elected on the cultural and educational panel and the culture side of that role is also extremely important. It is something I want to focus on over the next few years. I developed a grá for the Irish language in Kilnadeema National School outside Loughrea, as well as a love for traditional Irish music in the Kilnadeema branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. The national school is located beside the local GAA pitch, where I grew up playing hurling, our native Irish sport and another key part of our culture. I was not playing hurling very well and mainly at junior level over the past few years. I loved it nonetheless and our culture is important.
A Senator
The Senator is playing senior hurling now.
I was just going to say that I am playing senior hurling now. The responsibility of the role is not lost on me. I might not have a hurl in my hand anymore but I have a key role to play in this Chamber, and I want to play it well, if I can. Mar a deir an seanfhocal, agus mar chonclúid, is de réir a chéile a thógtar na caisleáin. I look forward to five years of consistent hard work in this Chamber on behalf of everybody who got me to this point.
Anois, an Seanadóir Nessa Cosgrove.
Comhghairdeas leat, a Chathaoirligh. Beir bua agus go n-éirí an t-ádh leat.
As someone who grew up in a house filled with politics and history, is mór an onóir dom a bheith anseo inniu. I am the only Seanad representative from Sligo or Leitrim. I congratulate everyone else who ran and everyone who was elected. I thank my Labour Party colleagues for believing in me. I thank the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for nominating me. I thank my Labour Party comrades in Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal for supporting me. I also thank the people of Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal. Without their support, votes and belief in me, I would never have been elected and would never have had the opportunity to be elected. I particularly thank my husband, Conor; my three children, Sarah, Tom and Saul; and mo thuismitheoirí, Seán agus Theresa O'Callaghan ó Chaisleán na Leacht i nDroichead na Bandan.
I suppose they instilled an interest in politics in me and in members of my family from a young age. I can add this to the Cavan connection - my in-laws in Cootehill in County Cavan.
Representatives of rural constituencies face similar issues to those in urban areas. We face a lack of housing, inadequate transport infrastructure, low pay and under-resourcing of local authorities. Despite this, areas of the north west, west and midlands are often overlooked because we have issues that are particular to our areas. This is why I want to be a representative. I am proud to have been recently appointed Labour Party spokesperson for rural and community development and for the Gaeltacht to represent muintir na Gaeltachta agus na hoileáin. I will represent people well in this area. For years, we have had a non-existent train service in the north west and west. There is overforestation of Sitka spruce in Leitrim and people are living in crumbling houses all across Mayo, Sligo and Donegal. We are looking for 100% redress.
As a recently appointed spokesperson for workers' rights, as a proud trade unionist and as a youth worker all my life, I will be a strong advocate for people who are fighting within organisations under section 39 and section 58 and for low-pay workers, and for the vulnerable people who they represent, in essential front-line services across areas of youth work, addiction, healthcare and disability.
Tá mé ag iarraidh go mbeimis ag obair le chéile. As for how I will treat this House, I think we can bring about massive changes to it in the respect we can give to it. I want us to work with each other so that we can constructively make sure the north west, the midlands and the west stay on the map.
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus comhghairdeas leat. A Chathaoirligh, I rise today to wish you congratulations on your election and to congratulate each and every one of the new and returning Senators here today. I also think of the Senators, who have been referred to, who ran and were not re-elected and those who put their names forward.
This House has always been proactive in terms of trying to work together on different issues for the greater good. Certainly, under your leadership, a Chathaoirligh, and from having served with you in the past, you will put your best foot forward in terms of representation but also in terms of fairness in this House. I wish you all the best.
I also congratulate my colleague, Senator Kyne, on becoming Leader of the House. I believe you will work together collectively as will the other group leaders and the different people who will serve in the different roles. I wish Senator Kyne all the best. I look forward to working with him and colleagues across this House.
Many counties have been mentioned here. I am afraid Senator Craughwell would be upset if I did not say that I am from Limerick and the mid-west. There are three Senators here from Limerick today. I look forward to working with them but also with colleagues from the mid-west for the development of the west.
We would nearly be able to set up a five-a-side hurling or football team between all the counties we have represented here.
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Congratulations to you. You served well as Cathaoirleach in your last term and I expect you will serve equally as well in this term. I understand you had stiff competition. That is always healthy. I am delighted that you made it across the board.
The father of the House who introduced you today is a wonderful parliamentarian and a great friend. I thank him for what he has done.
I congratulate my fellow Galwegian, Senator Seán Kyne, who has been appointed Leader of the House. He is another great parliamentarian and a great Galwegian, but I will take strips off him in the coming weeks and months.
I mean to start as I intend to go on. Having been nominated to the Seanad by the ICPSA which includes the Defences Forces and An Garda Síochána, it is vitally important, as a reforming House, that we look at the legislation that was brought in following the financial crash.
We should look at the revision of some of the FEMPI legislation in particular. The post-2013 pension scheme, which impacts the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána, is detrimental to the survival of both organisations. Young commissioned officers and soldiers are looking for a way out because the pension is not attractive. Gardaí are leaving in droves because the pension scheme is not attractive. I am asking colleagues today that one of the things we do in the very near future is look at how that legislation has impacted our security services because, as we all know, we have been speaking about it in this House for the last four or five years. The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, has taken a particular interest now in the vulnerabilities of the State when it comes to security and defence, particularly in things such as undersea cables. The Cathaoirleach will remember that when I first came to this House, there were nine Irish Navy ships at sea. Today, there is one ship at sea at any given time. As the Taoiseach pointed out today, the Air Corps does not have the capacity to defend our airspace. In these troubled times, I ask that we take defence as something really serious to address over the coming months.
I know that my friend and colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, has always been very much on side with the Defence Forces as a Kildare woman. Now that we have a second Kildare Senator here, there might be a bit of competition between the two of them but I am looking forward to it.
Once again, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach, the colleagues who have returned and the new ones who are here. We lost a number of very fine Senators in the recent brutal election. It was a brutal election. We did not all get 169 votes, but nonetheless, I guess one is rewarded for that.
Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an gCathaoirleach. He did excellent work in his last term and I am sure he will continue that in his role in this House.
I heard several people from larger counties refer to how many Senators they have. Longford one of the smallest counties in the country, but we have an unprecedented situation today where we have three Senators in the House. It is an extraordinary turnaround. I welcome Senator Joe Conway to the House. He is on loan to Waterford at the moment but he is originally from Culleenmore and Colehill in south Longford. Three of his sisters, who still reside in Longford, are immensely proud of his achievement. I know it was mentioned that he has had a long trek here. I think he has fought three Seanad elections, and ultimately, he got here. It was four Seanad elections. The morale of the story is that perseverance pays off. Whether it is trying to stay happily married or go into politics, persevere at it and it might work out.
I am especially honoured to also welcome - I have to cross the party divide for this - Senator Paraic Brady, who I am sure is here beside me, to the House. If he is quiet now, he will not be quiet in the ensuing months. Senators will certainly hear him in this Chamber. Be it on farmers' rights or farm prices, he will be very vocal. He is indicative of a very strong tradition of public service in this country. Both his grandmother and his late father were excellent county councillors in Longford, as was Paraic. I am delighted to see him take up this role. He is also the second Senator from Drumlish in this House. His predecessor, Eddie Bohan, had a more endearing feature in that he was a member of Fianna Fáil. He was an excellent Senator. He was jovial, and came from an era when this Members of this House set themselves apart and identified the important role we have as legislators. I am delighted Paraic is here, and wish him and Joe well. Longford abú.
Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an gCathaoirleach on his appointment.
It is an honour and a privilege to rise today in this Chamber and address Seanadóirí agus muintir na hÉireann as a newly elected Member of Seanad Éireann. I do so with immense gratitude to those who have placed their trust in me and a profound sense of duty to serve the people of Ireland and my area in Cork North-West.
I take my seat in this House at a time of great challenge and even greater opportunity. Ireland as a nation is resilient and progressive, yet we face pressing issues that require bold leadership and unwavering commitment. Our young people are not just the future of Ireland; they are the present. They are our students, our workers, our entrepreneurs and our change-makers, yet too often their voices are unheard in the halls of power.
I commit to ensuring their concerns, from access to education, employment, mental health supports to housing security, are at the heart of our national agenda. We must create an Ireland where every young person has the opportunity to thrive unburdened by the weight of economic instability and social inequality. The health of our nation is the foundation upon which everything is built. A just society ensures no person is left behind when faced with care needs.
We must work to reduce waiting lists, enhance mental health services and ensure addiction is rooted in principles of compassion rather than criminalisation. Healthcare must not be a privilege but a right for every citizen that should be able to be equal and efficient.
Justice is also the bedrock of democracy. It must be accessible, transparent and fair to all. Whether it is tackling crime, ensuring victims are protected or strengthening our policing systems, we must be guided by principles of fairness and equality. We need to build a legal framework that fosters trust between communities and law enforcement, protects the vulnerable and upholds human rights in every aspect of governance. The ongoing housing crisis, the need for stronger domestic violence protections and the necessity for fair immigration policies must be tackled with urgency and compassion. Every citizen deserves to feel safe, valued and secure in their home and country. We must move away from outdated punitive approaches to addiction and instead embrace policies that treat addiction as a health issue and not a criminal one. Harm reduction, education, rehabilitation and community-based supports must be the cornerstones of our national approach. No family in Ireland has been untouched by the scourge of addiction and we owe it to the citizens to provide real pathways to recovery rather than barriers to reintegration.
We are custodians of democracy that has endured, evolved and strengthened over generations. The decisions we make in this Chamber must always be guided by principles of justice, equality and opportunity. We have to be fearless in challenging old paradigms and steadfast in our pursuit of progress. I stand here today not just as a Senator but as a servant of the people. I promise to work tirelessly to listen attentively and to act decisively in the interests of those who rely on us to lead. Together we can build a nation that is not just prosperous but also compassionate, fair and forward thinking. I really look forward to working with all Senators as a Seanad together. I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his appointment again.
First, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election. Our connection goes further beyond politics to way back when he soldiered on a Fijian island with my sister, Bernadette, and my brother-in-law, Seán. He has come a long way since then.
She eliminated me from the show, not that I am holding it as a grudge.
That will not be in my gift this term, anyway. I congratulate the Cathaoirleach as well as all the Senators from across the Chamber who have been elected or appointed to this House. I have come through three election periods and I thank the people of Mayo who have shown their faith in me in two local elections, a recent general election and in the Seanad election. As we know, our families and friends make such an incredible sacrifice for us to be here in these privileged positions. I thank the people of Mayo, my family and friends and my partner, Sarah, who is in the Public Gallery. She has had great patience over the past nine months with three elections. I thank Sarah for her support along the way.
It would be remiss of me to not acknowledge my experience in the past six years in Mayo County Council. Something we have all heard when knocking on doors around the country is the lack of power and strength at a local government setting. It is something on which the Cathaoirleach has done great work and on which we have engaged as councillors in recent years in the context of the review and reform of local government. This House, however, is a great opportunity to not only advocate for it but also to really fight to ensure we have a whole swathe of changes to bring decision-making and democracy closer to the people on the ground. We know, as councillors who have come up through the ranks and been elected to the Seanad, how important it is to have decision-making right at the heart of community because while many councillors in communities across Ireland are activists and are driving change, they are often doing it with their arms tied behind their backs.
We need to resource local authorities and our elected members in every way possible to encourage the next generation of young representatives across Ireland to improve democracy. It is within our gift not only to use our voices but to fight strongly for it so that they are not itty-bitty, incremental changes but are strong, sizeable and demonstrable support and changes to improve local democracy. I look forward to fighting for those and supporting councillors and Senators who want to enable that change.
I thank former Senators Paddy Burke and Lisa Chambers and congratulate them on their service here. I am the sole Mayo representative in the House. There is strong representation from other counties. I look forward to working with all Members, including the Cathaoirleach, in the years ahead.
I join the Senator in remembering Lisa as the former Leader of the House and her great service, not just to this House, but to Mayo, and also Paddy Burke, who was a great servant of the Seanad for nearly one third of its existence, which is an extraordinary record by any standard. He was a great adviser to me in this role.
Tréaslaím leis an gCathaoirleach as an éacht seo, a bheith tofa an athuair mar Chathaoirleach ar Sheanad Éireann. Déanaim comhghairdeas le gach duine atá tofa don Teach seo. Is léir go bhfuil éagsúlacht againn ó thaobh cúlra agus na scileanna éagsúla atá ag daoine. Táim thar a bheith dóchasach go mbeidh díospóireachtaí maithe againn chun leas na tíre amach anseo.
I thank and welcome the Cathaoirleach, congratulate him on his second appointment as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann and wish him continued success in the role as he has had before. I welcome the family members of new Members here today and the new Members in particular. It is clear that we have once again great variety and diversity in the Seanad. I am very proud to be one of the super representation from County Galway in the Chamber. It occurred to me that if one adds up all the different people from all the different counties here today, it seems to come to much more than 60, which baffles me somewhat.
As a Galway man, I take this opportunity - the House will understand why - to express sympathy to the family of Michael Coleman, a great Galway hurler who died unexpectedly and tragically in recent days, and a man from my neighbouring county, Councillor Anthony Waldron, whom many Members knew. I see quite a few people here today whom I voted for and a few others whom I promised to vote for. Nílim ach ag magadh.
Fierce honesty from Senator Mullen.
I wish to build on something my friend and colleague Senator McDowell said about Seanad reform. I agree with much of what he said. I disagree about the proposition that the reform to the election of the Seanad should come from within the current constitutional structure. I have long been of the view that we should have a list system even if that means we no longer have graduate-elected Seanadóirí, councillor-elected Seanadóirí or Seanadóirí who come from a constituency of one by way of a Taoiseach's appointment. I think it would be go mór chun leas na tíre dá mbeadh vóta ag gach saoránach ar bhonn chóras liosta - if there was a list system on a nationwide basis whereby people could vote for the set of ideas or the philosophical approach to politics that most suits their preferences and that, within voting for such a list, people could then vote for the person they wish to see elected from it. It is a system that has worked very well on the Continent. It would contrast well with the Dáil with its more local representation. I think we all accept that there should be no confusion as to the distinctness of the Seanad and the Dáil both in the way they are elected and the way they perform their functions. If it is not considered too presumptuous or ungracious of me, I would challenge those Members of political parties in particular to recognise that the Seanad is at its best when it escapes from the tyranny of the Whip system. We saw that last year with the Government's ill-advised and badly conceived referendum proposals, which were defeated by massive majorities.
Some of the most significant opposition to those referendum proposals came from a small number of people in this House. It was likewise with the so-called hate speech legislation, and credit to Lisa Chambers, who stepped outside of the party groupthink to recognise there were points being made here, particularly but not exclusively by Independent Senators, which simply were not ventilated in the Dáil. That is how we will build our own credibility as politicians and serve the people well. While it is understandable that within parties there has to be a certain coherence to get a budget through and so on, I hope that members of the Government parties in particular will recognise that, as Seanadóirí, they are different. While party leadership might expect a certain blind obedience, if I may put it that way, we will all do better as a country with the big problems we face if the Seanad proves itself capable of saying "No" at times when it needs to say "No". Famously, Kelvin MacKenzie, the editor of the Sun newspaper, on an occasion when he and a number of his fellow journalists were wined and dined somewhere near Fleet Street by people who wanted to influence their journalism, as the journalists were returning to their offices in what one might describe as an advanced state of refreshment, said to his colleagues, "Now let's go and stun them with our ingratitude." I encourage those Senators who, while they might be grateful to the party hierarchies which contributed greatly to their presence here today, can serve their country very well by at least on occasions stunning people with their ingratitude. The people need fair, independent and fearless representation, and I have every confidence that people will rise to that challenge.
On a serious note, I think we are all aware, or at least any of us who have been around here in this world for a few decades at all, that the world seems to have problems now that seem to be more serious than the ones we faced just a few decades ago. There are many issues of complexity challenging us in our own country and abroad and we will struggle to come up with answers that are always coherent and always consistent. We will have to balance the national interest at times with major issues of concern and principle. I will say this, however, in response to even some of what has been said already. Unless we proceed from the point of view that every human being has dignity and every life matters, from its very beginnings to its natural end, we will not have the social solidarity we need to go forward and solve our problems together. Every life matters regardless of colour, disability, stage of development or capacity. We need to reflect on that if we are to keep our humanity in a time when many people in our world are losing theirs.
A Chathaoirligh agus a Sheanadóirí, tá an-áthas orm a bheith i bhur láthair anseo inniu mar Sheanadóir nua Fhianna Fáil. I am absolutely thrilled to have been elected to this House and I thank everyone involved on my journey. I pay particular tribute to my husband, Paddy, and my sons John and Philip, who have stuck with me through good years and bad years in my political life. I also remember my late parents, Phil and Teresa Murphy, my late brother Con and my two other brothers, Dan and Phil Murphy, who have contributed hugely to me staying on the pitch and waiting for my opportunity to come again.
I have had quite a political journey. I have been a member of Bandon Town Council and Cork County Council. I have been a Member of Dáil Éireann and, now, a Member of Seanad Éireann. On that journey, I was lucky enough to break two glass ceilings. I was the first female ever elected from Cork South-West and I am now the first female Senator from Cork South-West. If you see it, you can be it, so I hope that in some way I am an inspiration to young girls all around the country but especially in west Cork.
I thank the ICPSA for nominating me and helping me to get here.
I promise to work with them from now on. I also remind all of my colleagues of the councillors who, in most cases, elected us here. It is very important we do not forget them now. Most of us have been councillors and I think their work is often undervalued and underrated. They work extremely hard and it is important that we, as Members of Seanad Éireann, do not forget them. I congratulate the Cathaoirleach agus beir bua.
It is so surreal to be elected to the Houses of the Oireachtas. As a member of the Traveller community, to have missed out in the last Seanad by a vote and a half but then to have been nominated by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, I will always be grateful and thankful to him for that opportunity. I can now walk down the corridors of Leinster House and no longer be stopped and have people say, "We put you there" and "There is the Traveller Senator. There she is, there. She was nominated by Micheál Martin". As I said, I will always be grateful.
I thank my team for supporting me and the Civil Engagement Group - Senators Alice-Mary Higgins, Lynn Ruane and Frances Black - who not only stand with me but are always beside me. In any corner in which I need support, I have three great women in my corner. We are still, so far, the only group in the Oireachtas that is an all-women group.
Many people here are celebrating with their mams, dads and families but it is almost 25 years since my mam passed away and it is almost 13 years since my father passed away. Being a member of the Traveller community and born and reared in a hating site, my mam would probably have thought I was the biggest eejit in the world to put myself forward for politics and getting, as she would probably have said, "tortured". My father was a big Fianna Fáiler and he would have been delighted.
(Interruptions).
I know. It is not me,-----
A very sensible man.
-----but he would have been absolutely delighted that I am here in the Seanad. It is such a privilege for me.
Nearly 40 years ago, in 1982, Nan Joyce set out on a journey. She was the first member of the Traveller community to run for office. She got more than 500 votes. Back then, there was only Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael but she managed to get votes from ordinary people in Tallaght, which was absolutely incredible. Today, that journey has been completed. It is not that we have equality - it is far from equality. I am still the only Member of both Houses from an ethnic minority group. We all know the process of getting to the Seanad is not easy. It is not what you know but who you know. It is through those relationships that are built over the years. It took me five years to get here. This time five years ago, my husband and one of our colleagues said to me, "Go for the Seanad, Eileen. There is a seat up for grabs, you can do it." I remember thinking, how stupid that was and that I would never get it. I got 76 first preference votes but it took me five years to get here.
It is difficult for women from all parts of society to be here but it is tougher again when one is a member of the Traveller community, a black woman or a woman from a working class area. This Seanad does not reflect the Ireland we all live in today. It absolutely does not.
I will be committed, going forward, to again work with those on the edges of society - those from marginalised communities. One of the emergency pieces of legislation we, in the Upper House, should pass is the occupied territories Bill. We should work on that Bill. It is absolutely vital we stand with the people of Palestine right now. The Civil Engagement Group will do everything in our power. That Bill does not need to be recreated. It is already there. The Government needs to implement it.
I have so much to say. It is so surreal to stand up here and be an equal Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas. I thank every single outgoing Member of this House, TD and county councillor who put a number beside my name, because if you cannot see it, you cannot be it. I am not standing up saying "Look at me, I am a Senator and now you can go off and do it". That is not the case. When you are from the likes of Ballyfermot, Crumlin or Walkinstown, you can see it but that does not mean you can be it. You need the right supports and the right access to education and health services. I was speaking to the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. Her questions, which I really admired, were how could we work together and what could she do for women's health within the Traveller community. Wow. That was mind-blowing for me because, again, I want to work with, not against, people in these Houses. I am absolutely privileged to be here and I hope to work closely with my CEG colleagues to create better opportunities not just for the few in the country, but for everybody. We are going to work as hard as we can, I hope along with the Senators opposite, to reform the Seanad. Everybody here is a white, settled person. The majority are. I am the only member of the Traveller community here. It still does not reflect diversity and that needs to change.
Is cúis áthais agus onóra dom a bheith atofa. Déanaim comhghairdeas le mo chomhghleacaithe uilig. Cuireann sé dualgas orainn ár ndícheall a dhéanamh gach lá ar son na ndaoine, na gcomhairleoirí agus mhuintir na gcoláistí.
I salute the first speaker of the day, the person who took the Chair and who is the new father of the House. In so doing he recognised the former father of the House, Paddy Burke, who had very strong Cavan connections. We are very proud to say the current father of the House, Senator Wilson, is a Cavan man. He is indeed a person of very high calibre and integrity and a person who brings very good values to politics. It is appropriate somebody like him should stand the electoral test of time and be here to show there is a place for integrity and decency in politics.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election to the Chair. I worked alongside him in the past as Leas-Chathaoirleach and we did a lot of good reforming work together. Something I am distinctly proud of that I was involved in and took specific responsibility for as Leas-Chathaoirleach was the integration of our European MEPs into the governing process here. We had a number of seminars here with the MEPs and interaction with the Members of the Seanad, to great effect. It was bringing the Seanad into the European model and vice versa. It was a very real reform of the Seanad. I salute the Cathaoirleach for that and have no doubt he will continue in a similar vein this time.
In that regard, I pay tribute to his predecessor, Deputy Buttimer, and congratulate him on his elevation to ministerial office. I wish him well. He will bring an extraordinary skill set and a lot of experience and there is no substitute for that.
I congratulate my good friend and colleague, Senator Kyne, who again brings extraordinary experience, from the time he was demoted to the Lower House right through local government, to the Leadership of the House.
In the last Seanad I majored from the very outset on the pernicious addiction that gambling is in the country. I advocated for a gambling regulator and anti-gambling legislation to curb the advertising, etc. I received great support in that.
We became a trio doing it week in, week out, namely, me, Senator Shane Cassells, who made a great contribution to this Chamber, and Senator Mark Wall, who, despite his demotion to the Lower House, I wish well. He is one of the fine people we had here and we did that.
I put the Leader and the Cathaoirleach on notice that I have decided that I will major in this term on something I think is important and which I heard my colleague from Cavan, Senator Tully, allude to, which is the waiting list for CAMHS, the structure of CAMHS and the fact there should be no waiting list for any young person in need of professional support. It should be available within a very instant call. Similarly, I want to put an emphasis in this term on the need for our young people to be called for tests for autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and a range of issues that arise in school and elsewhere. We need to think outside the box in this sphere, to look north and west as we have done in other spheres, and use professionals there and use the private sector. We have to look at people with fewer qualifications doing some of these tests. There is a manual for many of these tests with a set of questions and signs. It does not necessarily take someone with a couple of PhDs in psychology to administer those tests. We will have to be imaginative and do something so that there will not be waiting lists for CAMHS, for autism tests or for a range of other tests. That will be my big issue for this term. I tell my good friend, Senator Kyne, that he will hear from me on this virtually every week and I will insist we have debates on this. It behoves us as a country with the level of wealth we have now. It is a crying shame that in this great republic of which we are collectively proud, of which we feel very real ownership, with a real stake and in which we wish to play a very real part in building, with the wealth it has at this stage, there are people on waiting lists for support from CAMHS. An appalling vista could arise if they do not get the help they require. We cannot have a wealthy society like this where that aberration exists. I will not stand for it and I know most Members of the House feel the same.
A day like this is very special for us. Of course, I congratulate all the veterans and all the wonderful new people who bring enormous talent, vitality, new beginnings and a new energy to the Seanad. I welcome them. If we claim Senator Costello, whose extended family in Cootehill I know very well - they are friends of mine and I was talking to her uncle the other day - for Cavan-Monaghan, which we could legitimately do, then we actually have one tenth of the Seanad for Cavan-Monaghan.
As we sound personal notes today, and it is an emotional and a special occasion and a huge honour for each of us, just as it is a huge honour, it is also a huge responsibility and we have a duty. In the context of family and welcoming people, I welcome my two wonderful sons, Eoghan and Dáire, to the Visitors Gallery today. They have been an enormous support to me in practical terms throughout this campaign. My son Eoghan was making phone calls to friends of his for me and my son Dáire was writing literature for me and making sure it got into envelopes. He is smarter than I am. You get the talented people to do what they are good at. I am very proud they are here and I especially welcome them. However, let us all decide that we are here for the common good and let this be the first day of a great working Seanad where we will bring about real change for people and where lives will be better because of it.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election. In his first term he worked to open up the Seanad, which is something I really respected, by bringing voices in. People voted for a reform of the Seanad, and while we wait on that, we ourselves must reform how we engage in the Seanad and do our roles even if it is in the restricted manner it is.
While I fully respect people finding ways to relate to each other about the counties they are from, I cannot but help think that we should judge each other and relate to each other based on the values we hold.
When I think of the Palestinian people, the people in Sudan, the two people who die each day from overdose, the approximately 70% of people in prison who have not completed any form of State exams, I do not think the counties we are from will ever actually matter to their lives. I know people are just being friendly but we should start as we mean to go on. We should be able to work together and I have always done so. I have passed legislation and amendments in this House through working with people from all parties and none, but we must not value that above all else. We must also value the actions people take within the roles we have. We can be polite to each other and work together but it is not only words that matter. It is not only the things we say which we can agree on, pat each other on the back and say, "That was a job well done, we all worked together and got on", but it has no material effect in the world. We must be able to work together and then look out into the world and see that working together actually produced something real in people's lives and made change, rather than just saying we will work together to make change. We must find ways to measure the impact of working together rather than it just being a thing in and of itself that we like to say we do in the Chamber. I say this to challenge ourselves to be able to work with one another and do the work. I am not saying that to divide us in any way. I am saying it so that we actually turn the words we say in this Chamber into actions in society.
When we talk and think about solidarity, we must think about it in its truest form. Senator Mullen referred to everybody having dignity and the issues of social cohesion and solidarity. Solidarity never divides. Solidarity is taking values and extending them. Those who come last come first. If your politics do not reach those who come last, they are not about solidarity and social cohesion. When we think of the people in the LGBTQ community, I hope the likes of Senator Mullen includes them in the picture and discussion on solidarity and social cohesion and when we talk about all lives having dignity. The work in this Chamber should bring people together. It should never, ever divide. When we use language, we should be very sure we understand what that language means in effect in the world. This Chamber is a very important place to tease out not only those concepts and values, but to actually turn them into real-world effects.
I congratulate everyone on their election. I did not think I was old enough to be one of the veterans in the room. I am not feeling it and I am not liking it too much. When I was first elected in 2016, I was completely blindsided. I did not even know what I was going to be doing as a Senator. I ran for the Seanad and wondered what it was. I can imagine there are people coming in and wondering what to do and how to do it. There are many people in this room who can share that knowledge and wisdom on how to do the job in an everyday sense. In 2016 when I looked at the statistics on being elected, Mary Robinson was the only other person to ever get in on her first run. David Norris was the last person before me to ever unseat an incumbent. When I ran, I had no sense in the world that I was ever going to be able to infiltrate that space. I acknowledge Trinity College because this is now the last Trinity constituency. I recognise my election in those years as breaking some of the moulds and statistics I never thought I would break. I want to say RIP to the Trinity College constituency and to acknowledge that it put some very unusual voices of their times into the Seanad, whether that was David Norris or Mary Robinson. There are many people who came through that constituency who made massive change. I thank the constituency, which, thankfully, is made up of people from all counties and from around the world. I acknowledge that, although those university constituencies have been changed, they have served a very important period in history in terms of the work I have done and the work others who preceded me have done. I welcome everyone to the Chamber and I look forward to the next five years.
Gabhaim míle maith ag an gCathaoirleach. I thank you very much indeed and I congratulate you on your appointment. It is very well deserved. The Cathaoirleach has a remarkable track record and he was a tremendous support to me throughout my general election campaign. I look forward to his advice and help throughout my new venture here.
I congratulate all Senators here, no matter what their route was to get here. As a former journalist, I have a new-found respect for what Senators do and I wish in a way that I had been a little bit easier on them along the journey.
It is a huge honour for me to be here today and I will not take that lightly nor the fact we have 27 women here today. That is 45% of the Chamber, which is definitely heading in the right direction. We have, of course, nine in Fianna Fáil, so it is a real honour to be part of that. I say thank you so much to An Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, for nominating me and for giving me this opportunity to be here today.
If the House will indulge me, I would like to say a quick thank you to my family and friends who were such a tremendous support and showed so much patience while I was trying to forge my way into a new venture. That is my daughter Holly, my son Luke, my brothers Michael and Paddy, and my sister Louise. I know that my mum and dad, Pat and Phyllis Comyn, would be so proud to see me standing here in the Seanad today.
I also have to say that I had a remarkable campaign team in Louth, especially in Drogheda. They nearly helped to make history by becoming the first female Fianna Fáil TD in the Drogheda area in 70 years. That did not quite happen but they have made me the first female Fianna Fáil Senator. I am very proud of that.
When signing the register yesterday, I was delighted to see that a Senator Michael Comyn signed his name in 1928. I am not sure if we are directly related but I am certainly going to inherit that connection, whether it is true or not, because it is an unusual name and I would like to think I am following in his footsteps. A big thank you to the Clerk of the Seanad, Mr. Martin Groves, for finding that book and showing it to me. It was a very special moment.
I would like to echo the Cathaoirleach's words that the likes of local government and local democracy are very vital and it would be tremendous to see them come back into play. One of the tenets of my general election campaign last year was to bring back the likes of local government and town councils. It is the path of making Drogheda a city again and I very much welcome that he mentioned some sort of task force to bring that into being. I look forward to seeing that and to being able to look into that as well.
As many Senators have done, although some like me were doing it for the first time, walking through those doors into such an historic building, Leinster House, places the weight of history and responsibility on my shoulders. It is something that I will very much bear gladly and will never take for granted.
This my first time speaking in such a House. The Cathaoirleach quoted John B. Keane, the greatest playwright this country probably ever had. He said that being a Kerryman was, in his opinion, the greatest gift that God can bestow on any man. When one belongs to Kerry, one knows that one has a head start on the other fellow. Whether it is senior hurling, and I very much hope it is senior football we are playing right now, Kerry people very much have a chance of success.
Indeed, the Cathaoirleach is not the only Kerry person. The esteemed person to his right, Bridget Doody, is also such a person. We have good numbers in the Seanad and I would very much like all of the other Members to realise that. I wish the Cathaoirleach well as well as his dad and all the family here today. It is a very proud day for him personally and I will give him all of the help I can as a Member. I do not know if the Cathaoirleach picks it up from my voice but it is humbling for me to make my very first speech in the Seanad. It took the lady beside me a couple of years but it took me 55 years - I am giving away my age now - to get to this point. I welcome every Member. Their constituents, their councillors and everyone is behind them.
How we present ourselves and behave ourselves in this House will be a reflection of how successful we are as a House. As I stand here today, I am honoured and humbled to have been elected to the Seanad. This moment is not just a personal achievement but a testament to the trust and faith that our Senators, our TDs, our county councillors and the people of Kerry have placed in me. I particularly thank my close family and my friends from my area. As I look around this Chamber, I am reminded of the weight of responsibility that we carry on our shoulders as Senators. We are the representatives of our counties, our provinces and our country. It is our duty to ensure that the voices of our constituents are heard loud and clear. The Seanad is often referred to as a house of review and for good reason. We now have the power to scrutinise legislation, to ask tough questions and to hold the Government accountable for its actions. It is a privilege that we must wield wisely and responsibly. As I begin my journey in the Seanad, I am committed to working tirelessly on behalf of my constituents. I will listen to their concerns, advocate for their interests and fight for the values that we hold dear as Irishmen and Irishwomen. I am proud to be a part of this institution and I look forward to working with each and every Senator to build a better future for our country.
I am not sure whether it was John B. Keane who said that a Kerry person with an inferiority complex is a Kerry person who thinks he is just as good as everybody else. I thank the Senator for his words. There used to be five Kerry Senators here once upon a time. We are reduced in numbers at the moment but I am sure we will be back in force.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his appointment. It is with great and immense pride and deep responsibility that I stand here to make my maiden speech in Seanad Éireann. I am honoured to have been elected to the agriculture panel. The sector is the backbone of our country. It sustains our rural communities, drives local economies and shapes our national identity. I am also profoundly aware of the historic nature of my election. I am the first Sinn Féin Oireachtas Member for County Limerick in history. This is both a privilege and a challenge and I will embrace it wholeheartedly. Limerick is a county of rich agricultural tradition, from the dairy farming in the Golden Vale to beef, sheep and tillage enterprises across our rolling fields. The people of Limerick know the value of hard work, resilience and community but they also know the struggles of rising input costs, the uncertainty of markets and the persistent failure of successive governments to deliver for rural Ireland. I intend to be a strong voice for these farmers, fishers and rural communities, who feel left behind. As a Sinn Féin Senator, I will fight for fair prices for our farmers, for a CAP that genuinely supports family farms and for an agrifood sector that prioritises sustainability without sacrificing livelihoods. I will work to ensure that young farmers have access to land and support schemes that enable them to build a future in agriculture rather than being priced out of their own heritage.
I will also speak to the importance of gender representation. Women have always played a central role in Irish agriculture, whether on family farms, in agribusiness or as leaders in rural communities, yet our voices have too often been absent from the decision-making tables. As the only female Oireachtas Member for County Limerick, I take my role seriously not just as a representative, but as an advocate for the many women who contribute so much but who are too often overlooked. This Seanad must be a place where real change happens, where rural Ireland is not treated as an afterthought and where policies reflect the lived realities of the people we serve. I will work with colleagues across the political spectrum to ensure that fairness, equality and opportunity are at the heart of everything we do. I thank my constituents, my community, my colleagues here and my party for putting their trust in me. I will not let them down.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election. I am sure he will do a fine job.
I was not going to speak, but as my son is sitting in the Gallery I decided it would be a missed opportunity not to acknowledge him and my very close family friend Frank. Unfortunately, my father and mother cannot be here today as my father is extremely unwell, but I know he would be so proud of me.
A degree did not get me here today. I come from Tallaght, similar to Senator Ruane, and it was hard work and dedication to my community and the support of my community of Tallaght as well as family and friends that got me here today. I certainly will not be letting them down. I will treat everybody in here with respect and I expect the same in return. I do not believe in telling people how to think. It is really important that we are all entitled to our opinions and beliefs. Going forward, I will stand very strongly on mine. I thank you all and I forward to working with you.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach.
I want to start by saying it is an absolute honour to be nominated for the second time by the former Taoiseach and current Tánaiste, Simon Harris. Like many of the people here today, I come from a background that was far from the ordinary. My disability advocacy brought me here last July. If it was not for my Fine Gael colleagues who, thank God, took me under their wing, I do not know what I would have done. It is very daunting to stand up here and speak in front of so many seasoned politicians and incredible people who have created really positive change. However, it is also okay to acknowledge when you are new here that you were brought here for a reason. I remember that every day. The job does get tough. I learned that going through a general election up in Donegal, which was incredibly tough. I apologise to Senator Ruane but I had to get my county in there. I had to give Donegal a plug. It is tough work. Regardless of what party you are from or whatever, you need to be able to collaborate with the people around you and with the people in this room.
Some of the speeches I have listened to today were incredibly inspiring. Some of the areas and the issues I will be focusing on will be very similar to my very brief stint last term. Obviously, disability is my number one focus. I have lived experience of this, as is very clear today. For those who do not know or cannot see, I am an amputee. I am also a cancer survivor. When I was diagnosed with cancer over 20 years ago, I tried to get treatment while living in Donegal. I would have thought that the process one undergoes when one lives in Donegal would have changed by now. I hope my father is not annoyed at me for mentioning that he was diagnosed with cancer the week of the election. He is dealing with the same waiting lists, and the same transport issues, that I dealt with. If you do not drive in Donegal, good luck to you. I often say that Donegal is like LA, minus the weather, in that everybody drives there. We cannot rely on transport up there. I received an email yesterday from someone who informed me of the dire situation with bus services in my county. I was aware of it to a certain extent, but he went into some further detail. I can assume that this is reflected at national level. He had some specific information to share with me about locations where buses are accessible but bus stops are not. If you can get yourself to a bus stop in a wheelchair, you may not be able to get on the bus because the actual bus stop is not suitable. They do not work together.
I would like to acknowledge an incredible woman, Councillor Vicki Casserly, and her son James. James has done absolutely incredible work in the disability space. James is so cool. Members should look him up. He does so much, considering he struggles every single day with a disability. He went up to Donegal to test out different bus services, and it was up there that he dealt with the biggest issues. This angers me because it is not good enough. In 2025, it should not matter whether I live in Donegal, Cork, Tallaght or Lucan, which is where Vicki Casserly is from. If you have a disability and you cannot get from A to B because you cannot rely on services, that is simply not good enough. That is one of the biggest things I will be focusing on this year, along with cancer services, as I mentioned.
I need to stick up for people who cannot stick up for themselves. I see the heartbreak and I have lived the heartbreak. I am here for those reasons. I have absolutely no ego. I will be the first to say that I had not a clue last July and I do not have much of a clue standing here today but I have no problem asking. I am not embarrassed. The bigger issue here is what needs to be done. It is not about me. It is not about my career. That is absolutely the least priority that I have. It is about working together in this room to create positive change. I am so excited to work with you all.
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirleach, agus comhghairdeachas, and also to Senator Wilson, the father of the House. I remember on being elected that Senator Wilson gave me some great advice. He said, "It was talking got you in here and it is talking that could get you out." Wise words of advice. On the subject of geography, we have two Senators from Tallaght. I think I am the only Senator from Finglas. I wanted to put down that marker. Continuing on the subject of geography, last week I had the privilege of doing some parliamentary business that brought me up to Slieve League in Donegal, across to Derry, to Bishop's Gate, and from there to Coleraine, across to Ballycastle, down the coastline from Cushendun to Cushendall and all the way down through Belfast, right down to the Border. Senator Conor Murphy has left. I am very familiar with Camlough and Carrickcruppen Road. It was the first place I ever rode a horse. I will explain that at some point in the future. What struck me about that journey in the run-up to this day was that we may have temporary partition on this island but we are one island, indivisible.
When I was growing up in Finglas I had three older sisters, beautiful, assertive, occasionally violent. We used to play hide and seek. I will never forget their phrase was "Ready or not, here we come." For the lifetime of this Seanad, we are here in a number of particular contexts. One of them is "Ready or not." We are embarked on an unstoppable journey now to an all-island solution. If we prepare for it, it will be an incredible extension and expression of our great peace process. In order to do that, we have to prepare. We have to engage and talk to everybody. We must reach out to the over 1 million people on this island who are frightened because of the lack of engagement and the lack of clarity about what we intend for this island. If there is anybody here who thinks that we can simply extend our territorial jurisdiction to Thirty-two Counties with the Constitution that we have and the flag that we have, they are very much mistaken. If we prepare, this could be a great example of a peace process, a constantly evolving, improving iteration of peace. If we do not prepare for it, if we say "Not now", I can guarantee that our children and grandchildren will pay a very high price. We should never take the peace on this island for granted.
While I am on the subject, I served in Óglaigh na Éireann on this island prior to the ceasefires. I am very proud to say that I commanded troops in armed support operations in places like the Monaghan salient up to the Border with Northern Ireland, and north of Dundalk where the permanent British Army vehicle checkpoint used to be, watching the Wessex helicopters coming down where the RUC could not travel by road. I saw the absolute chaos, mayhem and anarchy that brought. After being elected, during the last Seanad term, I discovered that I was on a joint Oireachtas committee with a man who was being extradited to London to face charges and that I had been in the armed party. He was subsequently acquitted of the charges. What a journey the peace process has brought us on to think that not just metaphorically but literally I held my colleague at gun-point not that long ago, and here were sitting together in a committee and working constructively to assist Irish citizens.
That is the spirit in which all in this House should operate. We should all embrace one another. I have to say that I am sometimes disheartened by some of the cheap shots aimed at some Members of this House. We are all entitled to be here. It believe it was Senator Comyn who said that, no matter what pathway has brought us here, we are all entitled to be here. We should all do business together.
There were two referendums after the Good Friday Agreement, both north and south of the Border, and we are all part of the same political family, notwithstanding what may have happened in the past. I say that having been a participant in the conflict. Those who have never participated in a conflict and never had to face the associated challenges should be careful with their words because the peace process is precious. It is in this House and it runs through both Houses, and we will have a very onerous responsibility in the years to come.
I served in the Middle East in command of Irish troops and witnessed in the mid-1990s the slaughter of men, women and children at first hand. We have seen in the past year and a half the mass killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children. This is the context in which we convene here today and sit as an Upper House in one of the oldest parliamentary democracies in the world – one of 14, as the Cathaoirleach told us. There is now a President of the United States who, after witnessing the slaughter of the innocents, is prepared to ethnically cleanse 2 million people from Gaza and expel them against their will to other countries in the Middle East. We have serious challenges but I will say this: Hezbollah and the IDF have committed war crimes and both have murdered Irish peacekeepers, as recently as the Christmas before last, but we kept open our lines of communication with Hezbollah and spoke to the Israelis, including the IDF. No matter what the challenges are in Washington or other parts of the world, we must always keep a line of communication open to the people we disagree with most, because that disagreement is where the engine for truth and peace lies. That is why I reiterate that cancelling the other because they are different or have a different point of view is destructive and toxic to peace. I wish our Taoiseach the very best of luck when he gets to Washington. I hope he does. I compliment our Cathaoirleach on all the connections that have been forged between Ireland and the US. We must work on those connections and relationships, especially now, a time of turbulence and flux.
I have worked as a peacekeeper, as an interparliamentary representative on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and as a journalist and security analyst for The Irish Times for 15 years and latterly for The Journal. I travelled all around the world throughout the global war on terror to places like Iraq, Syria and Guantanamo Bay. More recently, for the past 20 years, I have worked as an academic who publishes in peer-reviewed publications on military and defence matters. In all my time in these roles, I have not once met anybody who queries, resents or interrogates our militarily neutral status. Last year, I gave the keynote speech at the National Defence Academy, Austria, where there were military and political leaders from all over the European Union, including members of NATO. Not one of them raised any question about Ireland's military neutrality. Over recent months, I have heard a parade of so-called experts and pundits on all Irish media platforms suggesting a false narrative that there is an issue with our military neutrality. I tell you now that there is not. I can also tell you the value of our militarily neutral status. As our diaspora all around the world and any of us who have travelled will tell us, it can mean the difference between life and death.
We are very much respected in the world. I decry the so-called academics, who should be ashamed of themselves, who suggest that we should somehow have an inferiority complex. One economist now turned security analyst suggested last week that we buy American weapons and liquid gas in order to appease President Trump. I put it to the House that Denmark is a full member of NATO and has spent hundreds of millions of kroner on American weapons systems, but that has done nothing for its possession of and relationship with Greenland, with France even offering to send troops to Greenland to help protect it from American interests. We must never appease tyranny, whether that tyranny be in Moscow or among a small but dangerous coterie of people in Washington.
While we must never renounce our military neutrality, we need to seriously invest in our defence, which is a matter that has been touched upon by others in the House. In particular, the men and women who make up our soldiers, sailors and air crew need to have a proper standard of living and their service needs to be respected.
I am here for one reason only. I am from Finglas, but I was elected, as Senator Ruane said, by a constituency of Trinity graduates that is nationwide and all over the UK, the United States, Canada and Australia. It is a big constituency. Those people elected me, but I do not act in their interests. I act with their authority to support carers and disabled citizens, who are all over Ireland. Some Senators are carers or will become carers, but every single one of them, according to the World Health Organization, will become disabled at some point in their lives. The average human being is disabled for eight to ten years of his or her life, normally at the end of life but very often by way of illness, stroke, acquired brain injury, road traffic accident, you name it. I am here for one reason only and that is our experience as a family of disability and caring. Ireland is the worst country in the European Union in which to have a disability. We are outliers in terms of human rights legislation when it comes to disability. This is our Legislature. This is our Parliament. Now that I have the Senators all together - I am addressing the Government side of the House particularly because I know I enjoy the full support of everyone in the Opposition - I am asking each and every single one of them to please support my disability rights Bill, which would bring Ireland into line with the rest of the European Union. I introduced the Bill in the previous Seanad term. I am going to reanimate it and will ask each and every Senator to support me in that. I will approach each and every Senator on an individual basis. Let us do the right thing; is féidir linn. We can do the right thing. I see the former Minister of State, Senator Rabbitte. She is a great colleague with whom I had a great working relationship and I know she supports my legislation. I prevail upon Members at their parliamentary party meetings to support that simple legislation, which would transform the lives of disabled citizens. I also have legislation on disability rights in terms of personalised budgets, which would hand the control over their lives to disabled citizens and carers, take us away from the charity model and anachronistic, out-of-step approach to carers and disability rights in this Republic and bring us into line.
I offer my congratulations to every Senator who has been elected - those who have been returned and those who are here for the first time. I echo what my great Trinity colleague, Senator Ruane, said, in that we in this House can have an impact. Even one Independent Senator can have a measurable impact on Irish society. The power we can wield is greater than the sum of its parts, but only if we work together collectively and constructively for the common good of the Irish people.
We realise that we have ample opportunity to speak in the Chamber on a range of issues on any day of the week, but it would be remiss of me not to congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election. Many attributes have been directed his way by a number of speakers, with whom I agree. He has and holds two very important attributes, which he showed as Cathaoirleach previously, that are crucial going forward. The first is his relationship and connections with our friends in America. That is more important now than it ever will be. It is to be hoped that in his position as Cathaoirleach he will be able to enhance that for us as a country over the next number of years.
He has always been open-minded as Cathaoirleach. People have talked about him as a reforming Cathaoirleach but he has certainly been open-minded. We share a keen interest in Ukraine and its people. I remember very early on in my first term, I came to him with a proposal regarding four Ukrainian MPs who were willing to come to Ireland to speak in this Chamber. This was only three or four months into the war. The Cathaoirleach was more than willing to offer this Chamber to them to speak in. This became the first Chamber in the world that any Ukrainian MPs spoke in in person when the war started. That is an example of what we in this Chamber can do by working together under the Cathaoirleach's leadership. I wish him well.
I wish our father of the House, Senator Wilson, well. He is a man I hugely admire. He will suit the role of father of the House perfectly. He embodied the role of father of the House even before becoming it.
I congratulate everyone who has been elected. I look forward to working with people in the coming months and years. I particularly welcome my friend from County Tipperary, Councillor Imelda Goldsboro. I also acknowledge Senators Noonan and Rabbitte, who are welcome to the Seanad. They both did immense work in their portfolios in the previous term. They were constant visitors to this Chamber and respected it hugely as Ministers of State. They also respected its Members. I wanted to acknowledge that. I look forward to working with them too.
As everyone in politics knows, you cannot be in politics without the support of your family. I talked to Senator Flynn earlier, who I became very good friends with. Every week, we find we have more and more things in common. When she spoke about her mother passing away 25 years ago, I said to her that my mother passed away 25 years ago as a serving Member of the Lower House. My father, Liam Ahearn, is present. She could not have done it without his support. That support has continued 25 years later. I certainly would not be in this Chamber without his support. I thank him for that. I also thank my wife and children. I was tempted to invite them today, but I have a five-year-old and a two-year-old and I feared that the Cathaoirleach would have to kick out my five-year-old if I brought him here; maybe I will bring him on a quieter day.
I look forward to working with everyone to bring about what we all spoke about, which is positive change. We come from different backgrounds and have different priorities but by working together we can deliver change. I look forward to doing that.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on acquiring the role. I look forward to working with him. The title of father of the House is one that will suit Senator Wilson very well. I look forward to working with each and every one of the Senators. Some of them I know already and others I look forward to getting to know.
My career path to the Seanad has taken place over the past 11 years. I worked in local authorities, I was a member of the opposition for five years, and I have been in government and served as a Minister of State. I am honoured to have now been appointed by the Taoiseach to the role of Senator. Some may not realise that my career was fulfilled in banking long before this. I served 25 years working in banking. I chose to leave that to go to work in public service. The reason I chose public service was that I believed it showed us all that I could be that politician. I could be that female who could be a single parent who could take on a role and bring about the change that would impact me on a daily basis.
I was in Opposition for four and a half years, where I sponsored 13 Bills. Over the past five years, I have seen some of them be enacted. That is why female local authority members can now, for the first time, take maternity leave whereas in the past they had to produce sick leave certificates. We know all about it here in the Oireachtas, where Members could not avail of maternity leave. They would have to avail of a pairing system. It was in the Seanad that the legislation had its final approval and passage and received the scrutiny it well needed. Jim O'Callaghan, Jack Chambers and I wrote the Gambling Control Bill in 2016. We saw that pass last year. I have seen what happened in childcare following my work in the Lower House in 2018. It was always down to collaboration, engagement and consultation. When you have those pieces, including the most important piece of all, which is respect, you can achieve anything. Any mountain can be climbed, but having collaboration, consultation, engagement and the respect of all is the only way we can bring about change. That is the one thing about this House. We leave politics outside the door and work together for the betterment of delivery and scrutiny.
An important statistic that I, as a former Minister of State for disabilities, want all Senators to take on board is that the Disability Act was passed in 2005. Since then, not one Minister of State who has held that role has been re-elected. One would have to ask why. During my next term, I look forward to working with all Senators regarding people with disabilities and persons with additional needs to ensure that we embrace the pathway of supporting our local authorities. As Senator Bradley said, they need the tools and the design manual for urban roads and streets, DMURS, to understand how to use their funding to ensure compatibility in our structures and environment. Sometimes, disability is not just the disability you have, but the built environment that disables you more.
That is my final contribution. I look forward to working with the Cathaoirleach and with Senators in the years ahead.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. I know he will be a very fair Chair. Thanks to Mr. Martin Groves and his team in the Seanad Office who facilitated the count. Thanks also to those who voted for me to be a Senator. It is a real honour to be elected to the Upper House. I will be working on various issues with all Senators. I am looking forward to that process and to bringing about positive change.
I will keep fighting for residents in the inner city who continue to be neglected by Government. Regeneration of flat complexes is happening at a snail's pace and it does not happen at all for many flat complexes. Residents are left to live in accommodation that is simply unacceptable in 2025. Flats are rotting, with dampness and mould, from the inside out. I will also work with families with neurodiverse children who are struggling for services and who are effectively left to fend for themselves without the resources they need. Special schools are also struggling for resources.
Important to me and Sinn Féin is our neutrality. Neutrality has significant support among the Irish public, yet we continually have the Government and many in the media making a case to scrap it. We must protect our neutrality and see it for what it is, which is a force for good in this increasingly fragile world.
I will also continue to highlight the injustice faced by Palestinians. Palestinians have significant support among the Irish people, yet we still have many in the media and in politics trying to silence those who stand up for the nation of Palestine and those who look to hold to account apartheid and genocidal Israel. It is important that we challenge this. We are not just responsible for what we say.
We are also responsible for what we do not say. We have to ensure that we are not quiet when it comes to standing up for Palestine and those Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who are facing ongoing terror by Israel. We have a Government that merely pays lip service to criticising apartheid Israel, with zero sanctions against the terror state and a row-back on passing the occupied territories Bill. It is a Bill it committed to passing if returned to government yet, now the election is over, it has thrown those commitments in the bin.
A united Ireland is something I will be working for in the Upper House. I believe a united Ireland is going to happen. I see the challenges also as opportunities, unlike the Government, which only pays lip service to a united Ireland. There is an onus on us to deliver a united Ireland for those who have fought for Ireland and for future generations. Our young people deserve this from us.
Another issue I will be working on is dog welfare. Volunteer dog rescues are under-resourced and overwhelmed. We have a lot of legislation on animal and dog welfare but very little of it is enforced. The State has a sad legacy regarding the treatment of dogs. The populist decision to ban XL bullies shows the Government’s contempt for dog welfare. Early last year, a Government Minister stood holding a poster stating that if your dog attacks sheep, it is your fault, not the dog’s. Then, three months later, the same Minister was holding a poster saying that if your dog attacks, it is the dog’s fault. It is utter populism. The XL bully ban should be amended to at least have an appeals process. We need to target the bad behaviour, not how a dog looks.
There is another issue that is important to me. While I was never very good, I was an enthusiastic footballer. Irish football is in a great place, with Shelbourne winning the President’s Cup last week and Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians playing in the Aviva Stadium this Sunday. The future is bright for Irish football but we have to invest in the facilities, infrastructure and academies. Just like we invested in the film industry, we need to invest in football so we create a football industry. Football and sport generally have many benefits for individuals and communities and we need to invest in them. We need to invest in football so we do not stay rooted to the bottom of the European table when it comes to investment in sport.
We also need to invest in young people and youth services. In the south inner city, Talk about Youth on Pearse Street does fantastic work with young people but it is still under-resourced, and the same goes for SAYS, the South Area Youth Service on Mercer Street, both within a stone’s throw of Leinster House.
I look forward to working with everybody but we have to ensure we get our priorities right. We have to support the underdog and those who have been left behind, and I look forward to doing that.
Best wishes to you, a Chathaoirligh.
Congratulations to all who have been elected or nominated to the Chamber. It is a particular honour for me to give what is my maiden speech. I begin by congratulating the Cathaoirleach on his appointment to the role and wish him the very best of luck. From what people have said, I have no doubt he will leave a very strong legacy and I look forward to working with him. I also thank the Clerk, Martin Groves, and his team for the work done during the count. I look forward to working with the Seanad staff and colleagues across all parties.
I am conscious that I am joined here by my parents, Peter and Theresa Byrne. It is a particularly honourable moment for me given the fact I started out in public life when I was elected at 27 to Wexford County Council. Similar to Senator Duffy, I contested three elections in the last year. When I started out on Wexford County Council, I never expected that I would end up as a Member of Seanad Éireann. It is a particular honour to be here and I very much look forward to the time ahead.
I am conscious that I am, and am proud to be, from Wexford. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only Member of the House from Wexford and that will be very important for me with regard to the issues I prioritise in the Chamber. We have challenges in County Wexford, and I am thinking in particular of the need for the Oilgate to Rosslare motorway to be developed and finished.
I am thinking particularly of Wexford General Hospital and ensuring it is resourced with staff, that the long-promised 97-bed unit extension gets delivered and that we have all of the supports necessary for our accident and emergency department, which covers not only County Wexford but the south-east region. I hope this is something we can work on and that our new leader will ensure we have a debate on that issue.
I congratulate our new leader, Senator Kyne, who was elected, like me, on the cultural and educational panel. I very much look forward to working with him. I also thank my partner, Sarah, and my two young children, Aoife and Eoin. Aoife will soon be four and Eoin just recently turned one. Childcare is a big issue for me. As a young Senator I am very conscious of the fact that is an issue that disproportionately affects young families and that is something that I want to prioritise in this Chamber. I am very much looking forward to working with everyone here.
I offer my own congratulations to the Cathaoirleach. I listened to Senator Bradley speaking about getting used to the Seanad but for me, this is my first day at school. I thank everybody, especially Martin Groves and his team, for making it so easy. It is an absolute privilege to stand here among Senators and I look forward to working with each one of them. I believe we can serve the people of Ireland with dedication and purpose.
Before I proceed I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the contribution of the former Senator David Norris whose seat I have, perhaps, taken. For more than 35 years he represented the same constituency that elected me, which is Trinity College Dublin, and did so with distinction in this House. He left an indelible mark, and while his shoes are certainly big ones to fill, I will strive to uphold the same spirit of service he embodied. I wish him a well-earned and fulfilling retirement.
I am also profoundly grateful for the support of all of the people who brought me here today. I owe a huge thank you to the man above, my family, friends and all of those who believed in me. Their encouragement and faith in my ability to make a difference have been hugely important to me and the driving force behind my journey. I would also like to remember my parents, Denis and Geraldine McCarthy, who my colleague Senator O'Loughlin would have known well. I came from a very dysfunctional and challenging home but their love and guidance shaped the person I am today. I suspect they would be very surprised to see me here, not as a visitor but as an elected representative in this esteemed House. A special word of thanks must go to my dear friend Phil Thompson, who is my partner in crime at Tiglin. Without Phil and his tireless efforts, Tiglin would not be the transformative organisation that it is today. His unwavering commitment to helping individuals navigate the challenges of homelessness, rehabilitation and addiction is nothing short of extraordinary. Phil is in the Public Gallery today. I also thank the former judge, Ms Gillian Hussey, who was the inspiration behind me putting the Tiglin centres together. Her wisdom, guidance and wicked sense of humour were certainly a source of inspiration for me. She used to tell everybody that she met me on Tinder and she is 89 years of age. A special word of thanks must also go to the staff and all of the volunteers at Tiglin. There are too many to name here but I know we have the Bobinac twins in the Gallery and Keith Flynn. All of these people helped me to put together what I learned was my campaign and it got me over the line.
As Senators Ruane and Clonan said, it is a tremendous honour to be elected by the graduates of Trinity College, Dublin. Two years ago I was awarded the Trinity Alumnus of the Year and I was absolutely amazed. The trust in me being put forward as a Senator for Trinity is not something I take lightly. I pledge to be a strong voice for those who often go unheard, especially those who are experiencing homelessness and addiction and people who struggle on the margins of society, like the hundreds of people we help daily at our Lighthouse café on Pearse Street who are seeking not just food but hope, dignity and support in very challenging times. Having listened to Senators today, I know that our work in this Chamber is not just about policies but is most definitely about people. It is about ensuring every individual has the opportunity to live with the dignity, security and hope we have talked about. I am committed to working collaboratively with each Senator to build a fairer and more compassionate Ireland, one where no one is left behind.
I will always remember the quote that "The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion". My good friend Sabina Higgins was here earlier, which reminded me that when the current President, Michael D. Higgins, was in these Houses, he quoted the Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, and said that there should be a floor through which nobody should be allowed to fall, whether that is in relation to housing, health or education. He went on to say that the "test of your citizenship is your ability to participate in society without shame". To that end, I will advocate for a comprehensive national housing strategy that addresses both emergency accommodation but also long-term social housing. As has been mentioned many times, housing should not be seen as a privilege and we should all work together to eliminate homelessness. I presented before the Oireachtas joint committee in 2016 when we were told that homelessness would be eradicated by 2020. Since then we have gone the wrong way but I believe it is something we can work on together.
I will support mental health initiatives that provide accessible and effective care for those struggling not only with addiction but also with psychological distress. As I have learned through my work at Tiglin, it is imperative that mental health services are combined with housing and employment programmes in an holistic approach and a continuum of care. Education is very important to me and I am committed to expanding access to higher education, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. No one should be denied education due to financial circumstances. The likes of the Trinity Access Programme is trailblazing and an absolutely wonderful initiative.
Once again, I express my gratitude for this opportunity and I look forward to the important work that lies ahead that the House will do. I know that with great power comes a lot of paperwork, so I know we are going to be busy.
If I have missed anyone, please indicate, but at the moment, the last speaker on my list is Senator Kelleher.
Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Ar an gcéad dul síos, déanaim comhghairdeas leat as a bheith tofa don dara huair. Tá súil agam go n-éireoidh go geal leat i do dara tréimhse mar Chathaoirleach an tSeanaid.
Like everybody else, I congratulate Senators on their election or appointment to the Seanad. I have been very encouraged and heartened by the contributions that have been made to date. While it is interesting to hear of topics that are of particular concern to individual members, it is very clear we also have an awful lot in common. I was especially heartened to hear the contributions on the future of the island and how we move towards creating a better future for the whole island. Senator Clonan, whom I have never met previously, hit the nail on the head when he said it is very important when we speak about a united Ireland that we are not speaking about 26 plus six equals one but that we strive towards a new country in which everybody is equally welcome. In the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement, that is something we should move towards with consent and inclusion and it is certainly something I look forward to playing a part in.
Various references were made to conflicts outside of our own country.
It is very important to have a balanced approach to resolution and bringing about peace in other parts of the world, especially in Gaza, Palestine and throughout the Middle East, to recognise there is fault on both sides and to play our part, in as constructive a manner as we possibly can, in helping to bring about a lasting peace settlement there.
I take the opportunity to thank the people who placed their trust in me in past elections, most particularly in the recent election to this Chamber, including TDs, outgoing Senators and, in particular, city and county councillors. I was heartened to hear the references made to the importance of strengthening local government. It is very important we look to place additional trust in the 949 elected city and county councillors around the country in playing their part. Equally, we should look to strengthen regional government, which has been weak in this State since its inception. The three regional assemblies have a much greater role to play than they do at present. We should look to the opportunity to strengthen regional government.
I thank my family - my wife, Leona, my children, Siún, Cormac, Cian and Sibéal, my mother and father, Gerry and Katie, and my three sisters and my brother - and all my supporters and friends. I again congratulate everybody here in the Chamber. I thank people in my community. Senator Clonan mentioned that he is the only Member of the House from Finglas. I am pretty sure I am the only Oireachtas Member to have come from my parish of Ovens. I hope to do my best in the Seanad Chamber for the people of Ballincollig and across the south-west ward whom I represent. I look forward to working with all colleagues in the term ahead to do the best job we can do for the country. Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.
I wish the Cathaoirleach the very best in his role. I am delighted to be here as a Member of the Twenty-seventh Seanad. It is a very proud day for me. My election came very much as a shock, and it was a good shock. I am here as a very proud Donegal man. There are four of us in the House. I am delighted to be here to wave the Donegal flag. We beat Kerry last weekend after many years. We are making a good start in Dublin, too.
Wait until the championship. That is all I will say.
It is a very proud day for me and my family. My wife, Arlene, switched her dialysis appointment to give me the surprise of being here today. It is lovely to see her here, as well as my children, Barry and Amy. The members of my team, who supported me through thick and thin, are there at the back. I come from a Fine Gael background. My father, of whom I am so proud, was a Fine Gael councillor for many years. He was here yesterday, along with my mother and brothers and sisters, to see me come in this door. I thank each and every one of them from the bottom of my heart.
I am really looking forward to working with everybody in the House. I am seen as a person who works with everyone, no matter his or her political persuasion. I can work on a cross-party basis. I am here for the good of Ireland and the good of Donegal. I am here especially for the good of the fishing community there. All over Ireland, coastal communities have been decimated by what is going on. I will be here as a voice for Donegal, the fishing communities all over Ireland and everything else going on that we need to sort out in Donegal. There are a lot of problems but we can sort them all out. It just takes everybody across the House pulling together.
I congratulate each and every Member. I thank Simon Harris for appointing me. Most colleagues' election came the hard way; I got here the easy way. I am glad to be part of this and to be on the team here in the Seanad.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election. My commiserations to Senators Wilson and Fitzpatrick, who also contested the position. It is not easy to put one's name forward for any election. Senator Wilson would have made a very fine Chair.
I am one of the five Cavan people in this Chamber. I am proud to be from there. Where one is from is really important in life. It forms us as the people we are. While I was born in Cavan, I was previously, before being elected as a Senator, elected in County Meath. There are some issues I would like to see finalised within this Seanad term. I thank, most importantly, the county councillors who put me back in this House. I worked hard for them over the past five years. I am in touch with them every single day. As many of the newly elected Senators will know, I send an email every night and keep the councillors informed. That is really important. As far as I am concerned, democracy starts on the ground. Grassroots politics is so important but it is underfunded and undersupported in this country. We need to reform it. We have seen the erosion of powers that happened under Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party in the past five years. I want to believe colleagues from the Government parties when they say they want to reform local government and give those powers back to councillors. I want to see them actively live out those words in the next five years.
I champion many issues in the House. Sometimes I am a lone voice. I am a controversial voice. It is not easy being that voice here. I have always championed issues like children in State care and those seeking aftercare from the State. I speak out about gender care for minors and the need for non-medicalised intervention for children under 18. I speak out about human trafficking and how we can stop it in this country. I speak out about mental health supports for our young people. This time around, I want to champion children and young adults with eating disorders. That issue is not supported in this country. I also want to look at some family-friendly taxation policies for young families. Senator Cathal Byrne spoke about childcare. We must look at how we can support families in this country through better taxation policies.
I extend my sympathies to the family of our dear friend, Councillor Anthony Waldron, from Ballintubber, County Roscommon, who will be buried on Thursday. His remains will be brought to the church tomorrow evening. Many councillors knew Anthony through the Suck Valley Way conferences he held in Roscommon in recent years. He was a fantastic local representative. He was about all things Roscommon. He had a great love for the promotion of tourism in his area. He will be greatly missed by many of his colleagues throughout Roscommon and throughout the country.
The power in these Houses must be decentralised. We need more power to be given to the regions. We always talk about the powers of these Houses but there is so much that happens throughout the country which we do not empower our local government and local representatives to address. Storm Éowyn really sent home that message. We need to look at regional government in this country for the first time ever. That is something this House can do. I look forward to working with each and every Senator in the coming years. I wish the Cathaoirleach the very best for the term ahead.
Ba mhaith liom cúpla focal a rá. First, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his success last night in being democratically elected to the Chair. I wish him very well for the term ahead. The father of the House gave him a fair run for his money. I am sure Senator Wilson finds it strange to be called father of the House. I do not know whether we should call him "Father Wilson" or what his title will be.
He is a bit young looking to be the father of the House but there is no better man for the role. I also wish Senator Fiona O'Loughlin well in her tenure leading Fianna Fáil as a political group in the House.
I offer my best wishes to my Donegal colleagues, outgoing and newly elected. Senator Boyle has just spoken. I served on Donegal County Council with his father, who was a man of great pride and an absolute gentleman. Senator Boyle is following in his father’s footsteps but he has got a step further into this House. I know he will represent his part of the world and his part of the county to the best of his ability and I look forward to working with him. Senator Bradley is also a Donegal lady. She lives not too far from me, in the town of Milford, and I know many of her family well. She has been a fantastic advocate for disabilities and cancer services, and I look forward to working with her. I served with Senator Flynn in the last term and I wish her well. As she said herself, she was appointed the last time but she has had a great achievement in getting elected on this occasion. She is a fantastic advocate for her people. I wish her well and look forward to working with her, as well as with all my Donegal colleagues and all others in the House. Everybody is on their best behaviour here today and we all want to work with each other. No doubt, that will change somewhat tomorrow, but we all have a job to do.
I come from a family in the north of Donegal. This is our 100th year of representation, the same as the Fianna Fáil Party. I come from a very proud tradition of republicanism. The family has given 154 years of representation at the European Parliament, at ministerial level, in Dáil Éireann, at the Seanad level and in Donegal County Council. We all come from a small house in north Donegal, of which the Cathaoirleach is aware. We were all born and reared there - all five councillors, two Senators and four TDs - so it is a particularly proud day for me to stand here, and to be here for the period of that 100th year of representation.
On the back of that upbringing and the republican homestead I was brought up in, it would be remiss of me not to talk about the shared island movement that is going on at the moment. While we all talk about constitutional change, for me, too many talk about having a border poll. The Government is planning and investing, as well as having 62 different pieces of research to identify what is taking place on this island, North and South. That is real planning, not hearsay. We can all lead in this regard, and I commend Senator Clonan for his speech today. Where the real preparation needs to happen is with representation in this country. We all need to take responsibility when it comes to the national question. We all need to take responsibility in reaching out our hand to the 1 million people on this island who feel closed off in the north-east corner. There are 11 counties in that part of the country that have been affected, not just six, because there are also the Border counties in the South. It is the ten Border counties plus Antrim, so more than a third of this country is still badly affected by our history. However, we now have it in our power to change all of that and to make a better future for the next generations.
Even while discussing the next generations, there is work that we could do to mirror some of the work that is done by organisations that work with schools, North and South. School classes and schoolchildren are coming together and are funded to meet on a regular basis to discuss politics and actually get to know each other. Our big problem, not as politicians but as a society, is that we do not know each other, North and South. We are afraid to engage. I think the Cathaoirleach can change that. We need to start bringing young people from both sides of the divide, North and South, into chambers like this and start driving change and engagement. As politicians, we need to then take ownership and put out our hand to the unionist community, not constantly battle with each other.
We say an awful lot about democracy and how democracy works here when it is not working in other parts of the world. It is not working very well north of the Border either at the minute, although that is not to condemn the parties. As politicians, North and South, we need to be a big brother, particularly in the South. I would also like to see the Cathaoirleach developing those relations and having more North-South interaction with the politicians through the forum that the then Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, and the Speaker, Edwin Poots, set up in the autumn. I would like to see that process back up and running again. I would like to see much more interaction because it is relationships that are going to move this country on, not what the Governments put in place. It is about the relationships. The relationships are not there and if we are not big enough to stand up and drive those relationships, and put our hand out, we are wasting our time and the referendum will not go anywhere. It is on us to improve for the next generation.
I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election. It is not my first time to speak in this Chamber as I was invited here by the Cathaoirleach when I was with the AILG to represent the council and the local elected members. I thank my family, my friends and my supporters for the last 11 years. I thank Longford County Council and all the staff within that council for making it possible for me to be here today. I thank all of the elected members - the councillors - for an easy campaign and for their courtesy when I visited them during the campaign.
I would like to say something that we have instilled in Longford in recent years. When we come into a chamber, we say that we will put on the blue and gold. I think that, in this House, we should put on the green jersey and we should work for the betterment of our country. I will not be found wanting when it comes to that.
I stand here as a proud farmer. A number of years ago, I was outside the gates of Leinster House trying to get the people inside the gates to listen to farmers and our needs. Now, I am delighted to be inside the gates to represent that community. I thank the Clerk, Martin Groves, and his team for the hospitality and the service they have shown since I have come here.
It is very important that we protect our food and protect our imports and exports. Without protection and knowledge regarding our food sources and looking after rural farmers and small farmers, we will run into dangerous times. There is the Mercosur deal coming in from Europe and there are several other policies and documents that will come in front of us. I look forward to this challenge. I look forward to working with the 11 other Members who were elected on the agricultural panel to do what we said we would do, and to represent the agricultural sector in all its forms. I hope Deputy Martin Heydon will be a strong voice as Minister for agriculture.
He has listened in the past and I know he will be listening to our concerns going forward. The backbone of our country is agriculture. When we ran into a recession in the past, it was the agricultural sector that took us out of it and we must not forget that. I look forward to working with everybody in the House and wearing the green jersey for the betterment of the country.
I thank the Cathaoirleach. I am very proud to be here today. I am very proud to be, I believe, the sole representative of Roscommon in the Chamber. I want to acknowledge the Trojan work of two former Senators, namely Eugene Murphy and Aisling Dolan, in the House in the past term. I would like to acknowledge my family, my wife Nicola and my daughters Kate and Abbie, who accompanied me yesterday and turned the Seanad office upside down, with Martin's help. I did not bring them with me today to avoid a repeat of that. I would also like to acknowledge the support of my mother and father, Liam and Madeline Scahill, and my wider family in Roscommon and the Ballaghaderreen area in north Roscommon.
This day last week, I, like 2,200 other households in Roscommon, was still without power following storm damage. It was a very stressful time for a lot of families, but the work done by councillors on the ground was immense. The communication they provided to constituents must be commended and acknowledged. The reaction of the local authority, Uisce Éireann and ESB staff must also be acknowledged in the Chamber. We attended an event this morning for the rebranding of the LEADER companies to a community network. A lot of organisations in the social inclusion and community activism programme, SICAP, put their shoulder to the wheel in the past couple of days and weeks and supported rural communities that were badly affected by the storm at a time when they needed support. They all need to be acknowledged for that.
My journey as a politician is not that long of a story. My journey as a community activist, however, is a lot longer of a story. I have been an advocate for rural Ireland and its development, and have shouted about what we have in rural Ireland, for quite a number of years. Senator Rabbitte is beside me. During Covid, she came to see how we were doing outdoor bingo in Castlerea. We were reacting to conditions at the time and wanted to get people outside. It was great to get acknowledgement for things like that. Our club, and the people and volunteers of rural Ireland, came out and put their shoulders to the wheel, like we have always done when we have been called upon to do so.
Since I was elected to the council on 7 June, a mentor, friend and former Senator and Deputy, John O'Mahony, passed away. He was a great supporter of me and Senator Duffy. He would be very proud to see the two of us in this House today. I also come from a local authority that started on 7 June with 18 members. By the end of September, we lost Councillor John Naughten, a close friend and colleague and somebody I looked to for advice and support. I believe he would be sitting in this House today had he lived.
As other Senators have mentioned, my celebrations of being appointed to the Seanad were short lived because a colleague and friend, Councillor Anthony Waldron, passed away last Sunday morning in Roscommon. His funeral is later this week. It would be remiss of me, on a day like today, not to acknowledge the impact that an independent councillor like Councillor Anthony Waldron had on Ballintubber, west Roscommon, Roscommon and rural Ireland as a whole. The Suck Valley Way conference was mentioned, with which I was involved. I worked with Anthony on it for the past two years. In the first year, we focused on rural potential, including tourism and, in particular, the economic potential of rural Ireland. That is what led us to the conference. There is immense rural potential in our walkways. It will not cost a lot of money to have an impact on communities and large numbers of people throughout the vein of Ireland. That will be something I will promote in memory of Councillor Anthony Waldron.
As well as that, Anthony was a great man for social inclusion and tackling isolation. He started a programme about 18 months ago to reinvigorate the rambling houses. The project encouraged traditional dancing and storytelling and the art of conversation, and attempted to re-engage people following Covid. Social inclusion was mentioned by community networks today and has been mentioned in the House. It does not have an urban-rural divide; it is something that affects us all and something I hope I can work on with people in the Chamber on addressing during the term of this House.
I am immensely honoured and proud to represent Roscommon. In this House, our constituency is the whole country. We are all wearing the very same colours. I had just gotten used to calling Senator Brady a councillor and now I have to answer to something different. I am getting used to that. I am immensely proud and I look forward to working with everybody. What Anthony Waldron believed was that if you can leave something in a better way than you found it, then you have achieved what you were trying to achieve. I believe Councillor Waldron's legacy is the multitude of volunteers across Roscommon and across the country who have taken up the mantle to follow his example. I would like to acknowledge that to the House.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his role. It is a great day for his family. I have met some of them here today. I also acknowledge his link with and connectivity to the US. There are murky waters right now for our imports and exports and these are turbulent times. These are also turbulent times for many undocumented Irish in America. There is the fear of the unknown for them – I know quite a number of them myself.
I also want to acknowledge Martin Groves and his staff. Since I arrived here on Monday, their kindness and support has meant so much to me and is making this journey very easy. I offer a sincere thanks to all of the staff. I thank An Taoiseach for the nomination. It is a great honour for me.
Tipperary South is a new constituency. We have had a long and difficult year. We went through the local and general elections and the Seanad campaign. We took the scenic route, but we got here at long last. Without the endorsement of the Taoiseach, that would not have been possible. I thank my family, including my three children, some of whom I am trying to make into politicians. Others are allergic to politics. I thank my team, some of whom are here today. When it comes to politics, we all know that you cannot do it on your own. You need a team and backup. I want to sincerely thank each and every person involved.
I was in the council for 11 years, having started in 2014. I was a community activist long before that. We are all here today and have our agendas and challenges for our constituencies and areas. We are not lacking those in Tipperary South. We will highlight these issues. I know the past number of weeks have been challenging for many, following the storm and the effects of climate change. However, today is a day where we are all getting to know each other. We all bring our own strengths and abilities to the table. This Seanad will be very productive. I can hear the enthusiasm and positivity. Each and every one of us has our strengths and is inspiring in our own way.
It would be remiss of me not to sympathise with those from the Roscommon area on the passing of Councillor Waldron. He did great work for the tourism industry, both urban and local, trying to rejuvenate it. I extend my sincere sympathies to those who were close to him and to his family at this very difficult time.
There is one final speaker who just indicated. I call Senator Maria McCormack.
I do not need a microphone. I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. I am looking forward to working with everyone here. It is great to hear such positivity and inclusion in the Chamber. I hope it can stay like that and we can work together to share our visions for a better Ireland, a united Ireland. It is with immense pride and gratitude that I stand here today as a woman elected to represent Laois. I do not think there is anybody else from Laois in the Seanad.
It is lovely to hear frequent references to the fantastic former Senator Norris who did some great work here. I have big boots to fill but it is a great privilege for me to stand here as a woman, as the first and the only female Oireachtas Member from Laois.
It is not only a personal achievement but a historic moment for our community and for the women of Laois and Ireland. I stand here as a proud representative of Sinn Féin, the party that supports women, with 42% women in the party. I begin by acknowledging the party for placing its trust in me. I vow to work tirelessly to represent the needs and aspirations of all the people in my constituency of Laois.
I stand here with a deep sense of responsibility and am determined to bring their voices to the heart of the Seanad. There are many issues on which I will focus. I hope to work with all Members throughout my term here. However, there are issues that are both urgent and close to my heart. First and foremost I am committed to championing women's health and domestic abuse services. As we know, women's health is often sidelined in policy and healthcare. We cannot stand idly by while our sisters struggle in silence.
Domestic abuse is another area that has been too long underfunded and under-prioritised. I will continue to advocate for stronger support systems, better prevention programmes and more funding for women's refuges and services across the country, particularly in rural areas such as Laois, so that it is not forgotten. In the first eight weeks of this year seven women were killed. I want us all to take a moment to remember that and remember those women. We are here with a job and we must represent everyone all over Ireland.
In Laois we are witnessing a rapid population growth and with this growth comes an urgent need for community resources and facilities. Our schools, healthcare facilities and public services are stretched thin. It is critical that we match the population growth with investment in these services. People in Laois deserve modern, accessible facilities that can cater for the needs of this growing, diverse population. As a member of Sinn Féin, I am deeply committed to building our party in the constituency of Laois. We have rich history in activism, republicanism and community-driven change. It is essential that we continue to foster these values and strengthen our presence at local level and overall here in the Seanad. I will work tirelessly with local communities to address their needs and to ensure that our message resonates with the people I represent.
Housing remains one of the most pressing issues in Laois and throughout the country of Ireland. Too many families are struggling to secure affordable housing and the State must do more to ensure that everyone has access to a safe and secure home. We need investment in social housing, increased protections for renters and a fairer housing system that prioritises those who are most vulnerable.
I am excited to work alongside my colleagues on the Sinn Féin team of 45 Members, to bring real, meaningful change to Laois and to Ireland. We are a party that stands up for people and I am determined to ensure the voices of women, families, carers and communities are heard in this House.