John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This year we are celebrating 100 years of Seanad Éireann. This is the 26th Seanad. If one multiplies 26 by 60, that is approximately 1,500 people who have been Seanadóirí. There have been more Senators because there have been by-elections, etc., so one might add another 200 on to that figure. I am aware that the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad may be able to give us a better figure but I am just giving approximate figures.

Between 1,500 to 1,700 people, then, have represented and sat in this Chamber over the past 100 years. Our guests today can now add their names to that list. That is tremendous. The words that our guests have spoken today will exist on the record of the Houses of the Oireachtas for the next 100 years. People in the future will look back at the words they have spoken today. That is a tremendous day for our guests, for their parents and families, and for their local communities. I ask them to remember the significance of being able to sit in our national Houses of Parliament and to engage with parliamentarians. That is the essence of our democracy.

As Senator Boylan has said, if anyone needs an argument in favour of votes for people at 16 years of age, listening to our guests today certainly provides that. I thank them very much for coming to the Seanad today, for engaging with us and I am sure that the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Senator Mark Daly, would agree with me on the following suggestion also. He has made a real effort in his past 18 months here, even throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, to try to open up Seanad Éireann to a much wider set of societal groups. Here today is a great example of that and I thank the Cathaoirleach for it and it is greatly appreciated. My suggestion, then, is that this should become part of an annual part of our Oireachtas committee, Chairman, in that our guests and those who will come after them might regularly feed into the decision-making processes at committee level and into the debates to help us. The way we make our own decisions and the way I view my own political outlook is that the more information, data and diverse views a person can have on a topic, the better, it is as it helps us as legislators to make better policies for this country. That is why it is so important to have our guests present here today.

The point which our guests made which really stood out for me was that people in their own communities on the island are saying that they, in their lifetime, particularly the older members of the community, have not seen storms as bad as the recent ones have been. If ever they need a clear example of the impact of climate change upon our local communities, it is simple examples like that which really hit home. I thank our guests again so much for coming along today; t is greatly appreciated.