Mary White (Fianna Fail)

It is only my third day in the Seanad, but I want to give my reaction to the proceedings. I concur with the views expressed by Senator Brian Hayes on the overuse of prepared scripts. Many of the presentations during the Nice debate lasted 15 minutes but were repetitive. People who were not here at the beginning of the debate came in and repeated what had already been said. That is disorientating. I want to make a relevant contribution. We should consider the question of lengthy prepared scripts and Members should be told not to repeat what has already been said, particularly on issues such as Nice.

As an observer of the proceedings in the other House and in the Seanad on television, I do not understand why few Deputies are in the other House when the Taoiseach speaks. I am also surprised at the number of eloquent speeches here. Every speaker makes a brilliant contribution. I am a novice at public speaking, therefore I am nervous.