Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent)

This is my first time to speak in the 24th Seanad and I do so with a great sense of anticipation, joy and profundity. I say profundity, because I understand, as I know all Senators do, the responsibility and privilege of this position. I am one of the Taoiseach's nominees, or as Senator Crown likes to call us an "Enda-dependent". Such a nomination is an affirmation of 33 years in third level education, the arts and culture, and broadcasting. I hope to serve the nomination very well. I hope to serve the House with clarity of purpose, vision and action, and also with an articulate and melodic voice.

I hope to bring two distinctive and distinct qualities to the House. They are qualities that Einstein thought were good. Anything good enough for Einstein is good enough for me. The first is imagination - the kind of imagination that allows us to know that change can happen, that it can move things on, move them out and move them up, that it can unearth and unfurl, that it can be put into practice and be seen to happen, and that it can be qualitative, calculable and accountable for the people. The second quality is energy - energy to propel, infuse, motivate to action and push forward, with all other Senators, the route to that change. Without the energy of action, nothing happens. Language and argument are not enough; because we give something language does not mean it will happen. I intend to bring imagination and energy to the House.

In the past week we have heard from Senators as well as from television, radio and newspaper reports the human tragedy that was the Magdalene laundries. Many Senators, Deputies and Ministers have been involved in bringing this national scandal out into the open. Senator McAleese spoke about the possibility of inviting on a regular basis representative groups from Irish life into the House to inform, engage and reveal truths. I request that the first of these should be Jim Smith, the man who went through the State archives and found the evidence of State complicity in the incarceration and labour exploitation of women and girls in the Magdalene laundries. I also suggest the brilliant lawyer, Maeve O'Rourke, who wrote the submission as to why the State was responsible and presented it in Geneva allowing the United Nations Committee Against Torture to tell the Government that the issues of a thorough investigation and compensation had to be addressed.

A UK Labour Party councillor for Hackney, Ms Sally Mulready, who leads the survivors' group has also told us what the State must do. These are the examples that the Seanad needs to platform in its regular public discourse and about which Senator Martin McAleese spoke. I am very privileged and humbled to have been chosen to be in the Seanad. Circumstances in the country cannot be shocking because a commission, or a television or radio show tells us they are; we need to know ourselves when they are shocking. It is our problem and we need to deal with it. I respectfully suggest and request that the Leader consider my proposal as one of the first steps in restoring the relevance of the Seanad to the people.