Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I compliment those Senators who ran in the recent by-elections and European Parliament elections on their magnificent performances. I congratulate the former Senator, Alan Kelly, on his election to the European Parliament. Senator O'Toole said he has detected a shift in the mood of the electorate. Perhaps the election of Joe Higgins as an MEP for the Dublin constituency and the election of my neighbour, Seán Kelly, as an MEP for the South constituency means there has been a move towards our part of the country - the kingdom. I support Senator Glynn who made a serious point about the register of electors. When I toured the polling stations in my part of the kingdom the other day, I saw people from Bangladesh, Bangalore and all points in between but noticed that a number of our own people were absent from the electoral register. Although we call them local elections, all of the non-nationals are on the register and more power to them. One could hardly spell some of their names, but they were there. I suggest that nearly 100% of them came out to vote in the town of Killarney.