Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The scariest votes I ever cast, and perhaps others had the same experience, were in local authorities because in those votes, I was often voting with a constituent sitting right behind me and I had to raise a hand - yes or no - on some issue of local importance. I was aware some of the people behind me who did not want me to cast my vote a certain way but it taught me a real lesson that every vote is important.

As my colleagues, Deputy Catherine Martin reminded me yesterday, I am sure every Deputy has the same sense that I had the first day I walked through these gates of the absolute honour, of course, but also real trepidation. The first time one walks into this Chamber there is a sense of absolute fear - what does one do, where does one sit and what happens next. We must keep that in our minds and in our every act every moment of the day for fear that hubris would allow us forget that we are only here because of the votes of the people in our constituencies.

It is remarkable that these events have occurred at the end of our Dáil 100 celebrations. Perhaps we have all been getting a little beyond ourselves in recent times. We have been looking across at Members of the UK Parliament and laughing at them because they would not even be able to vote for Christmas if they had the opportunity to do so, while we are here working together in a sensible way. Hubris may have crept in and allowed us lose the run of ourselves in the way we vote.

Every Member of this Chamber goes out and meets people while canvassing. We do not mind if someone gives out or has an argument with us; that is fine. We all agree, however, that the hardest door to which to come is the one at which someone says he or she does not think he or she will vote. I always answer by referring to the key issue, namely, sovereignty. The people are sovereign when they vote. It is the centre point of our republic that every person is equal and has that power. We have the power, not some other entity. I then have to explain that people exercise that power by voting for me and that I will exercise it when I sit in this Chamber and press the button to vote. That is central to our constitutional democratic republic and it is not a small matter. I agree with other speakers that being partisan, whether it is offence or defence, does not help but distracts from the core issue. It may also cast doubt on whether people realise this issue is important. That should stop.

The Ceann Comhairle and the Clerk of the Dáil have the widespread confidence of this House in the way they have addressed this issue and I am sure they will continue to do so. Difficult issues arise because we will have to put to our members of the committee the very serious issue of how the immediate issue is to be addressed. Deputy Paul Murphy said there would be difficult issues in that regard also. Do we ask Deputies for permission to access their phone records to be able to get clarity on what exactly happened? I do not know how we should decide because this is not a judicial body but a legislative body. I trust the Ceann Comhairle, the Clerk of the Dáil, our legal advisers and others will help the committee to carry out its work in a fair and timely manner.

I agree with Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan. We have to be careful not to take from some of the good things that have occurred in this Dáil. In my interview with the Clerk of the Dáil I told him that the way we voted on a Thursday had been a progressive development. It gives every Member a week, sometimes longer, to think about the way he or she will vote and perhaps work with other parties to persuade them at the last minute and consider every amendment.

I agree with Deputy Howlin that, in some ways, the arrangements do not reflect what happened in the old days when there was real certainty and that the Government has abused and misused the constitutional powers of the Executive in refusing to allow very good legislation to be passed by the House. The way we vote on a Thursday is the proper way. I say to Deputy Howlin that while we are not winning votes in the way the Government used to win them in the past, I take every vote as a declaration of where Members, parties and individuals stand. I refer to the votes we took on the motion on forestry that we debated in the House. In any future work with other parties, whether it be in local government or whatever form here, I will refer to that motion and remind them that they agreed with us when we said this was what we should do.

Votes and what each party does in every vote are not insignificant. They set out where we stand. The fundamental act of voting for someone else, voting twice or voting from the wrong place weakens the sense that when I vote, I am saying what I believe we should do. It is difficult when there are many amendments and so on, but it is not just about who pressed the right button and whatnot; it is also about what the vote means. In sitting in the wrong place and voting for someone else we undermine our own power. We undermine the faith the voter has put in us that if they vote for me, they are voting for me to take every single amendment to a Bill seriously, in the same way we do in a council when we have someone breathing down our neck because it concerns an issue of importance. Every issue is important, as is every vote. That is why what happened here in the past week was so sad.

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