Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

That is probably right. My first point is the timing of the debate tonight. I am very interested in selling who and what I am. I am a seven days a week, 20 hours a day politician. When I said that on "The Late Late Show" I received two e-mails immediately afterwards which stated that we were only doing the same as everybody else and that everybody was working hard. I believe everybody works hard. I was able to solve two problems that weekend of people who sent me e-mails challenging me as to whether I was really a seven days a week operator, whether I really have people's interests at heart when I say I am interested in politics as a career.

I want to declare my interest in regard to the long service increments. I have been in national politics for 13 years so I qualify for both increments. I also qualify for an extra pension payment, having been a convenor and having been Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. I, therefore, stand to lose in the next tranche of cuts, but if is in the national interest I have no problem with it.

In the context of what Senator Brady said, if I had remained teaching I would have points for organising an orchestra, points for training a choir and points for taking on various responsibilities. Had I been in nursing I would have points for undertaking different levels of responsibility. I do not know that we are so different from other public servants. If we are different, what makes us different? The longer one is in a job the more experienced one becomes. More experience does not necessarily make one better. However, in any other job time yields results in terms of points and financial gain. I make the point that we are told we are not the same, but let me give the example of travel. When I was first elected to the Dáil and people in Donegal wanted me to meet them on a Tuesday or Wednesday I had to tell them I could not because that was when the Dáil sat. They would ask why I had to go to the Dáil and I would answer that it was because they elected me to go there and legislate and that to do that I had to go to Dublin. They wanted to know why it was in Dublin and why it could not be in Donegal. I am not saying everybody thought that way. When I attended a meeting on a Monday night somebody would ask why I spent so much time in Dublin when I should be in Donegal. That is why I say we should be having this debate during the day when people can tune in and listen. We need to find mechanisms to sell what we do because many people do not know why we are here. I have to be here so the cut of 25% in mileage expenses was something I felt. I am not sure that people out there knew about that cut. If I were in another job I could choose to go to this or that conference, but I cannot choose whether to be here or not. I have to be here because it is where the Seanad sits.

We have been subject to public levies as well and it is important to say that because the public seem to think we are not affected by cuts. I want to put on record the fact that as a Senator I can choose whether to have an office. I chose to have one and keep a service to the national electorate, that is, the national public representatives in the county councils, and my constituents. We do not receive allowances towards that.

An interesting pilot project was done recently where the phone system in the Oireachtas was given to five people, of which I was one. Despite having had the free service of that phone, I have still incurred phone bills. My bills, even with the free service, still exceed the amount of allowances we receive. The money spent on the services we provide to constituencies, constituents and taxpayers far exceeds the allowance we receive.

When I was convenor of the health committee, we were involved in an examination of the issue of tobacco. Our work contributed to the ban on smoking in public places that was introduced by the then Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Micheál Martin. When I was chair of the Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, we pushed the issue of alcohol being brought under the national substance misuse strategy - it is now there. We pushed for party pills to be banned, which has now happened. I did a report on music therapy, and all of the issues concerning that have not yet been dealt with. I am on the Council of Europe and I am sure at some stage someone will complain about the amount of money I spend on travel, but a report was passed unanimously by the Council on history teaching in conflict and post-conflict areas which I gave to Ban Ki-moon during his visit to the Oireachtas yesterday.

A serious amount of work goes on here. I have put reports together which required many hours of work. Had we outsourced the 13 reports I did while chair of the Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and reports done before and after that to consultants or others who receive a lot of money for these types of projects it would have cost the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of euro.

The issue of understanding and valuing the work of a politician still needs to be addressed. I do not expect praise or expect people to understand the ins and outs of it, but we do not stand here often enough and have time to sell our message, who we are and what we are doing.