Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent)

I thank Senator McAleese for giving me so much of his time. We Independents brought our motion to the Chamber today. I have listened to many, beautiful, eloquent speeches from other Senators but I wish to speak only on our motion because I see things very simply. I come from the business community and have no political leanings either way. I am a total Independent.

I hear fearful talks about receivership and other matters such as the abolition of the Seanad. Like Senator McAleese, I do not wish to be paralysed and believe we must take action. We Independents thought very carefully about introducing this motion. To me, it seems a very simple action. I welcome that Senator Cummins said about his amendment that the issue would be dealt with in a very timely manner because when I drove to Dublin this afternoon to attend the Chamber, my heart sank at the sight of the amendment. I read "that these proposals be considered by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges at the earliest opportunity" and when I saw "considered" I thought to myself, they are just going to put it up on the old shelf. I thank Senator Cummins because I was very comforted to know it will be dealt with in a timely manner.

I am in business and things are really tough at present . I was in the Westbury Hotel yesterday with 160 companies belonging to KPMG. Matters are just as bad as they were in 2008 in many ways but we are all very positive and are working hard. Change is very difficult for us who work in business but we must push through the same change in this House. Let us try. For fun, let us pretend we wish to discuss retailing and supermarkets. Senator Quinn spoke earlier. I agree with Senator Mary White about the bit of housekeeping. If we are debating, is it possible that people might not leave? It is very difficult to talk to people who are not present. I have enormous respect for Senator Quinn, who is a brilliant man and globally brilliant on retail. I reiterate may point. Let us say we wished to have a debate next week on retailing and supermarkets. We could invite Mr. Terry Leahy and Senator Quinn to speak, for 20 minutes only, followed by questions and answers for 12 minutes. It would not waste a great deal of time. We 60 Senators could get the most expert people one could imagine rather than oblige a poor committee to sit repeatedly, see if it could invite such people and, if it could, prepare a report with its interpretation of what the experts had said. That is all we propose. We want to keep it simple. We do not want to upset anyone or waste any time.