Barry Ward (Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. I will not take her five minutes.

First, I recognise the Cathaoirleach. It has been an honour to serve in the Seanad with her. She and I joined at the same time. In fact, notwithstanding her prejudice, I understand her family might have speculated about my status as a Traveller or otherwise with a name like "Ward", but I have had the privilege of working with her on lots of different issues.

I was delighted to hear some people saying that they have seen an improvement in attitudes towards Travellers and the treatment of Travellers. If that is the case, in the last four years, I think the Cathaoirleach can claim a lot of credit for that. In particular within the Oireachtas there is widespread respect and acknowledgement of what she has done.

I will not take the four minutes – I see I have just been docked a minute – but I want to say two things in particular. The first relates to the point that was made about not being able to be something until you can see it. That is a hugely important point.

I agree with what has been said about voting. Obviously, Eileen Flynn, as the first Traveller Member of the Oireachtas is a hugely important figure. Unfortunately, I do have a Dublin accent - there is nothing I can do about that - but half of my family are from Tuam in County Galway and I always think of Ellen Mongan, who became a councillor in Tuam 25 or 30 years ago. She was the first Traveller elected to public office. I pay tribute to her because she got a vote from across the community. There are obviously lots of settled Travellers in Tuam – more than 1,000 of them – but they would not be enough to elect her on their own, so she got votes from across the community. That is the most important thing - that we have to stop seeing it as a "them and us" situation.

When I first ran for local election in 2009 I visited Travellers in my area. I see Senator Clonan here, who is a neighbour of mine. There are a number of settled Travellers in the Blackrock area and I visited them and registered them to vote. They did not even all vote, but it was the first time that they had ever been engaged with by somebody seeking public office. It brought home to me the shortsightedness of politicians, which is why I want to agree with the point that was made about voting. It is absolutely true that if you do not vote, your politicians do not have to have regard to you, because the most important power that you have is your vote. Until they take notice of the fact that you control whether or not they get their job back, they can ignore you so the most effective way to stop them ignoring you is to register to vote and to cast your vote. I do not say that just to Travellers, I say that to everybody. We have local and European elections on 7 June. No matter who you are in this country, whether you are an Irish citizen or not, you are entitled to vote, for example, in those local elections. So many people around the country do not know that.

People who turn up and vote make the decisions about who represents them, so if you want politicians to sit up and take notice, get out there and make your voice heard.

The second area I want to speak about is that of justice. In my other job I am a barrister, and I have had the privilege - I say that sincerely - of working with a number of Travellers over the years who have experienced discrimination. Obviously, I know that discrimination against Travellers is rife generally, but I am referring here to the criminal justice system. We know it exists and it is something that needs to be worked on. It exists at every level. No more than in any other community, the Traveller community will have bad apples in it and there are people who come before the courts having done things they should not have done, but many Travellers come before the courts who genuinely need the representation to put forward the case of what actually happened, because they may not have been believed, somebody has given a false account or whatever it might be.

For any person who goes before a court for the first time, it is a hugely intimidating experience. That is particularly true for someone from the Traveller community or somebody who is not Irish and coming into what is essentially an alien environment in many respects. It has been my privilege to represent some of the people who have faced down that discrimination in the context of our criminal justice system. I am forever saying in this Chamber that it is generally very good, but it has its flaws, just like any other system. I look forward to working with people on an ongoing basis in that regard.

In conclusion, a Chathaoirligh, I just wanted to say that this is a great committee. I am standing in for Senator Joe O'Reilly, who cannot be here at this time. It is a privilege to be here. It is a privilege to work with the Cathaoirleach, and I offer her my congratulations. I thank her for everything she does.