Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I, too, congratulate the Cathaoirleach. I got to know her in the past few years. I can tell that she will make a great Chair. What is happening today has to be an honour for her and her family. People talk about making history and setting down markers. The Senator has now made history and is now living history.

When I was a member of Cork County Council, I was a member of the Traveller consultative committee and worked on various incidents and situations. I hope that, as with previous committees of which I was a member, such as those dealing with Sláintecare, the future of mental health care, and autism, politics will be left aside and we will work collectively. It is about achieving things and doing the right things. If we can all pull together as a team on this, I cannot see why this committee cannot be as successful as people want it to be. I am sure that, with the leadership of the Cathaoirleach, there will be no problem driving things forward. I am just looking forward to helping and working with everybody else. As I said, we are all proud even to be members of this committee but we want to get our legs running straight away. Some of the members have said that, on the basis of promises made to others, we should make visits to check the progress and then come back here. At least we would then be starting on the right foot. I wish the Cathaoirleach the very best of luck and look forward to working with everybody.