Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

Mar a deirtear, Tús maith, leath na hoibre. The Seanad has made a good start in this term. I commend the Leader, the leaders of all the groups and all my colleagues because we have made some significant strides towards reforming the way we do our business. We have an eclectic bunch of Senators with different views and different ways of doing things, and that is important. We have made a start and laid the foundations to make this House relevant to the people. Reaching out to the public through the public consultation committee will be most important and I look forward to that.

We have a significant role to play not only in the scrutiny, but in the production, of legislation. Many Bills have been initiated in this House and our group will bring the Family Home Bill 2011 before it today. As I mentioned yesterday, it will give proper protection to home owners with distressed mortgages. I am certain a good debate will take place and I hope we get cross-party support for the Bill to enshrine in law what is required to help to protect our citizens in times of difficulty and that, at the very least, they can be sure they will have their family home.

I wish the Leader well over the summer. It is important people get a break as we have had a long year. However, when we come back in September, I would like to see an end to talk of the reform of this House and to start to do the work. We have had many discussions on reform. Those discussions are over; let us prove our worth.