Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I do not see any Members falling asleep behind me. It was always a bit of fun to watch on television live coverage from the House of Lords to see how many people were falling asleep. It was quite extraordinary. That is not the system we have here.

It is a great privilege to be a Senator and to be able to stand here and debate as a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas. It is extraordinary and a great privilege to be debating in the Chamber with people whom I regarded during the years as having household names.

Senator Glynn stated 1,199 amendments were tabled in the Seanad last year. This is an extraordinary number. It is not the case, therefore, that the Seanad is irrelevant. However, there is a great difficulty associated with how this House is perceived. Most members of the public, to many of whom I have spoken, have no idea what the Seanad does or does not do. An educational process could form a part of Seanad reform immediately. I have watched visitors trooping into the Visitors Gallery, for a number of minutes in most cases, to watch debates in the Seanad. Bringing children into the Seanad is very worthwhile. Many others visit the Seanad to see what is going on. It is very much the case that those who visit are interested in doing so. It is quite important that we embark on an outreach programme. I am sure it has been tried before. It is important to make the Seanad relevant. I do not want to see it abolished.

I have ambitions. I have stood for election to the Lower House twice and would welcome the opportunity to do so again. I have been selected to do so again and would love to be elected. However, I take the business of the Seanad very seriously. It is an enormous privilege to be here and I intend to put my heart and soul into being a Senator and into making as great a difference as I can while I am here, albeit making no assumptions as to what will happen in the future. None of us can do that and none of us knows how long the Government or this House will last. While it does last, it is important that each of us makes as strong a contribution as possible and does his best to achieve what he can.

This will be an ongoing debate. The key point for me, as a new Senator, is that we make a difference in what we do. I hope this is not a debate, involving only the ten or so Senators present, that disappears into the record books but that it spurs real reform. A statement made to me, a truism, was that very few people elected by a particular system are prepared to reform that system. The university Senators are saying it would be unfair to reform certain aspects of the Seanad without reforming everything. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas; nevertheless, we have come to a point in our history where there is great disquiet over the political system. There is a great need for reform and every Member should be prepared to see a decent level of reform. I hope it happens.