David Norris (Independent)

I congratulate the Leader, Senator Cummins, not on his election on which I already congratulated him, but on the manner in which he speedily addressed the efficiency of this House. He will have the support of all sides of the House in so doing. There was a slight delay, but it was not caused by the Leader of the House or any of his officials, rather it was caused by the Taoiseach in his deliberations on his selection of nominees to Seanad Éireann and it was worth the wait because we have such an unusually excellent group of people. Today those Senators have taken an historic step. Never in the history of the Seanad have the Taoiseach's nominees formed a group and elected a leader. I sincerely congratulate Senator Jillian van Turnhout on her election. She has a fine record in protecting the rights of children. In that regard, I join my colleagues from Sinn Féin in asking for a serious debate on the report of the Ombudsman for Children in which she makes some serious remarks, including that children are still being denied the right to be heard, that they still have an impossible task in some instances of realising their rights and that they are being denied basic essential services.