Senators:

I hope the Acting Chairman will excuse me if I speak outside the conventions of the House. As everybody is aware, it is my second day in the House as it is only the second day it has sat since my appointment following the death of Senator Kate Walsh. I wish to start by paying tribute to the late Senator Kate Walsh. She is a lady who sadly I met only on half a dozen occasions and did not get to know in the way I would have. However, I was struck by her enormous passion, determination and compassion. On a number of occasions following my appointment, Members from all sides of this House approached me and spoke fondly of her. It was a nice way to get a sense of who she was as a lady given that I did not have the chance to get to know her terribly well.

Senators:

Yesterday I was struck by many of the comments in the House about the appointment of Senators in the short term. On the day of my appointment when I came up to sign the register of the Seanad, Members of both Houses pointed out to me with a certain amount of glee that it now meant I had free car parking in the House for life. Yesterday that was pointed out in a very different tone. It is a perk many like to point out. However, for me the only purpose of having car parking in the grounds of Leinster House must surely be to be able to contribute to the work which goes on here. That would be my primary interest.

Senators:

I return to the Bill before the House. Members will excuse me if I am naive and idealistic in my take on this but it is important to separate the political from the practical. One thing which was certain was that the Opposition would oppose this Bill and speak in emotive terms about big Government, waste of money, Government excess, etc., and point out that it would have done things very differently. We will have to take Fine Gael's word that in the negotiations it undertook with members of all parties and of none in its efforts to form a Government, it would have adopted a very different approach to the Government. I am not so certain that is the case. It may also be the case that had Fine Gael been successful, members of other parties would now be raising exactly the questions it is raising. Perhaps that is just part of the game.

Senators:

It seems the net outcome of this Bill in terms of the new positions which will be created is that it will be of significant benefit to the State and to certain people in it. We are all very aware that in the run up to the election, interest groups and others would have lobbied very hard about the creation of Ministries of State and senior Ministries to meet their interests. If Government was ever to meet all those demands, we would probably have a Cabinet table with approximately 30 chairs around it and a Minister of State complement massively increased beyond its current level.

Senators:

We must consider the importance of the posts being created as a result of the Bill. I would like to speak particularly about the creation of a Minister of State with responsibility for integration and a Minister of State with responsibility for older people. It is one thing to make an argument about cost effective government, which my party has advanced on many occasions over the years. Although I was not there, I remember our negotiations on a programme for Government which successfully sought the abolition of programme managers across all Ministries. I can stand over the record of my party, despite what Senator Michael Finucane said about our role, in reducing the cost and perhaps the size of Government on occasion.

Senators:

I am certain the Immigrant Council of Ireland, the Older and Bolder campaign and many others would not agree that the creation of Ministries of State with responsibility in those areas is an excessive waste of taxpayers' money, a waste of time or the creation of jobs for the boys, which clearly it is not.