Fiona O'Malley (Independent)

In response to Senator Quinn's comments, Members must try to be re-elected to the Seanad. It is unrealistic to expect the Seanad to continue to sit when they are trying to be re-elected.

I acknowledge the results of the general election and wish the new Government well. Senator Harris hit the nail on the head in cautioning against what might go wrong. I concur with him that big government is not necessarily healthy government. I hope the Government will have the courage to tackle issues as it needs to do so. In that regard, I concur with the assessment of Senator Harris.

I congratulate the Members of this House who have been elected to Dáil Éireann. It is a great honour. I also commiserate with those who were unsuccessful. It was a difficult election. I welcome Senator Darragh O'Brien who is most welcome. I hope he will have a long life in this House.

Like Senator Prendergast, I acknowledge that today is International Women's Day. However, I am astonished that she has failed to acknowledge that the membership of the Labour Parliamentary Party in the Seanad is 100% female, something of which she can be very proud.

To revert to the programme for Government, what worries me about what we have heard about it is the number of reviews being sought. People have said they want a review to be carried out of the Hunt report that has just been published, as well as a review of the decision on the siting of the proposed children's hospital. That does not bode well in having a good, dynamic and progressive Government which will have to make tough decisions, but nonetheless I wish it well. It is in the country's interests that we have a good and strong Government which will tackle the issues that need to be tackled.