Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

Tá áthas orm an Seanadóireacht seo a ghlacadh ar son mhuintir na Gaillimhe. I wish to thank first my family as it is very important to get our priorities right. I thank my wife, Niamh who was here yesterday and our children. I thank my parents, Pádraic and Sue, who are here today in the Gallery and all my extended family. I thank them for all their support over the years. I thank my colleagues in the Green Party, Senators Boyle and de Búrca and Deputies Mary White and Paul Gogarty who were in the Gallery earlier. I thank everybody who took part in the election which was a very interesting campaign. Many people were involved but I thank in particular those who voted for me and all the people across the parties for their courtesy throughout what was a very interesting Seanad election campaign. I thank the Clerk of the Seanad, Ms Deirdre Lane, and her staff for their courtesy and professionalism throughout the whole process.

The Green Party now has representation in all four provinces and also in all five European Parliament constituencies on the island. I believe we can possibly claim to be the first party to represent every single community on this island and this is a very important signal. I hope other parties follow suit.

I also thank and congratulate the two gentlemen who took part in the by-election, Councillor Eoin Bannigan from Fine Gael and James Heffernan from the Labour Party. As anyone in this House will say, it takes great courage to put one's name on a ballot paper but it is very important that people participate in the electoral process.

I noticed one or two Senators referred to Seanad reform. I assure them they will not find any difficulty debating this issue with me. There is a definite need to reform the whole political system in this country and this is a strong principle of the Green Party. Many Senators told me during the election campaign they believed this 23rd Seanad is a very strong Seanad as it has many capable people on all sides of the House and I refer in particular to the Independent Senators who are very strong. I hope I am not being totally naive in saying I hope we can show real leadership during the lifetime of this Seanad. We are facing difficult times following events such as flooding in my part of the country in Galway. Flooding occurred throughout the country but Cork and Galway were the hardest hit. We need to show real leadership and I would like to work with Members on all sides of the House to achieve the best possible outcome for the people.

I look forward to working with all Members of the House during the next two and a half years. I hope that during my time here I will receive the same level of courtesy that I have received today and throughout the campaign. Members on the opposite side are shaking their heads. It is an enormous honour for any citizen to stand in this or the other House and represent the people. I feel that honour on my shoulders today. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go leir. I thank everybody who has come to the House to support me today.