Fiach MacConghail (Independent)

I second the motion. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Is é seo an chéad uair dom labhairt mar Sheanadóir. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le mo chlann agus, dar ndóigh, an Taoiseach, as ucht mé a ainmniú. Gabhaim buíochas freisin le chuile Seanadóir a thug comhairle agus cúnamh dom i rith mo chéad cúpla lá.

As this is my maiden speech, I take the opportunity to acknowledge my gratitude to the Taoiseach for offering me the privilege and responsibility of participating in the Upper House. It is an honour for me and my family and also for my community, namely, the arts and cultural sector. The last director of the Abbey Theatre to become a Senator was W.B. Yeats in the 1920s. I am not claiming to be a Nobel laureate, but I accept this honour with humility and commitment on behalf of our national theatre.

I have also been involved in two recent citizens initiatives, namely, the National Campaign for the Arts and We the Citizens. What has struck me is how we have become disconnected from each other in our efforts to make our society a better place in which to live. The need to become better and more active citizens is what motivated artists and community leaders at the turn of the 20th century when many civil society groups came together to make sense of the world and to seek a clearer identity for ourselves. It was at this time that poets, trade unionists, teachers, politicians and soldiers - men and women - engaged in the great lockout of 1913, the foundation of the GAA, Cumann na mBan, the Gaelic League, the foundation of the Abbey Theatre, the Easter Rising of 1916 and many other social and cultural events and organisations.

We must reignite that spirit, and the Seanad can play an innovative role in this. I am proud to make my first contribution in the House on a matter of change and innovation as set out in the motion proposed by my colleague, Senator Zappone. I have Senator Leyden to thank for highlighting on our first day in the House the report on Seanad reform published by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges in 2004. This document makes a great deal of sense and shows that the mood for change is not recent. We all know that change can be a difficult concept to grasp and handle. My new role as Senator fills me with a mixture of pride, fear and the pressure of responsibility. However, change is what we must do, and that was a common theme of many of the Senators who spoke on the first day.

In my world of theatre we are constantly changing and innovating, partly because artists and playwrights provide us with the challenge of new ideas and new ways of telling our story. In addition, our audiences can tell us what they want or think and a dialogue can emerge over time that is productive and mutually beneficial. We are constantly on show. Seanad Éireann must prove itself by auditioning publicly in the forthcoming term to convince the public of its value and relevance.

I have been involved in a new national and non-party political initiative, We the Citizens, which aims to reconnect citizens with the political system. Our objective is to establish a citizens assembly which will enhance and support the parliamentary system. I will speak about this in more detail on another occasion. We the Citizens held seven public events throughout the country in the last six weeks, from Killarney to Letterkenny and from Blanchardstown to Cork, to see what themes and ideas fellow citizens might have about improving the governance of our country. These were positive meetings in the sense that citizens are clearly beginning to realise they have a personal responsibility in engaging and participating in local and national decision-making. In other words, it is about active citizenship. The disconnect between citizens and politics is one of the issues we have identified in our public events, and the need to increase political participation is now an imperative.

Seanad Éireann, by doing its business differently, can assist in forging a greater connection between citizen and Senator. Citizens vote once in a while, but what happens in the interim? How can politicians and citizens engage in a mutually respectful and equal way? It is about increasing our knowledge of the way Government works and improving civic education among our citizens in order that they can support the Oireachtas.