Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I share in sending best wishes for the Christmas season, particularly to the Cathaoirleach who has been most fair to everybody on this side of the House. We all agree that he has been exemplary in his work. I am being genuine when I say this.

I concur with the Leader, Senator Maurice Cummins, in sending best wishes to all of the staff. I say the same to him and the leader of our Opposition group, Senator Darragh O'Brien, as well as to our secretaries, the Clerk of the Seanad, Ms Deirdre Lane, the assistant clerk, Ms Jody Blake, and Ms Aisling Hart, who all do excellent work. The Cathaoirleach knows that when one is in the Chair as an Acting Chairman, they all give such good advice because of their knowledge and experience. I, therefore, share the Leader's sentiments. Please forgive me for going on, but I am one of the longest serving Members of the House. I also extend good wishes to the stenographers and sound engineers who do a wonderful job. In terms of its quality and excellence, the reporting is unbelievable. Lacking details of locations and townlands, the reporters put everything into legible form. To them I say, "Well done."

It is only when one is out of the Houses that one realises the value of the staff. There was a period when I was not a Member but the staff still displayed a level of respect towards me that was exemplary. People think that we are shown respect because we are Members. However, the staff of the Houses show respect to everyone else, including former Members, visitors, schoolchildren, etc. This is a great Parliament and we should be very proud of it.

In appointing 11 extremely competent Independent Senators, the Taoiseach has done the House a great service. Those Senators, of their own volition, took a particular action yesterday. I commend all of them for the decision they made. People have to do their jobs and vote in a certain way. In my view, what happened yesterday showed the strength of this House. It also illustrated the fact that the Taoiseach had the strength of character to appoint 11 people without attaching any preconditions to their membership of the Seanad, such as stipulating that they should vote in favour of Government legislation or whatever. Those to whom I refer have done themselves proud and I am sure they will vote with the Government when it suits them to do so. One of the 11 Senators actually voted for the first time yesterday. He had other serious national commitments but he still came in and voted.

Without embarrassing my colleagues in the Labour Party, I wish to state that Senator Heffernan is a very courageous young man. I was with Jim Kemmy in 1982-----