Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Last week Senator Keaveney said she comes from north of Northern Ireland, which she does, of course. The more we regard Northern Ireland as somewhere else that we do not regard as part of our own, the bigger the problem we have. We must find some way to ensure that does not happen.

I wish to make one further point in support of the amendment. The Seanad has benefited from and been helped greatly in the past by those of its Members from Northern Ireland. Before my time Seamus Mallon was here. In my time, Gordon Wilson was the first such Member I knew. The day before I came here for the first time 17 years ago, Gordon Wilson phoned me because I was the only one in the House he knew. I showed him around even though I had only been shown around the day before. I think of the likes of Gordon Wilson, then later Sam McAughtry and Maurice Hayes in more recent years. I wrote down the names a few minutes ago, just in case I forgot them. I am disappointed that just at the moment we do not have any Member from Northern Ireland. The only way this can happen until such time as there is a reformed Seanad is by way of a Taoiseach's nomination. However, I urge that in the future the Taoiseach's nominees should include a representative from the North. There may be some other way of achieving this. There are those who say that people from the North do not have a vote here, but in fact Northern-based Trinity and NUI graduates have a vote in this House on that area. If a person is a joint graduate of Trinity and the NUI, then he or she has two votes.

I mention this because I believe the Seanad can do something in this regard. The amendment we have tabled is to the effect that we should have at least one report each session. I appreciate the fact that the Minister and the Leader have accepted that. It reminds us that Northern Ireland is part of Ireland. We should welcome the fact that we regard the whole as one island. Let us avoid being partitionist, as we tend to be on occasions.