Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the election of the first woman bishop in either the Church of Ireland or the Anglican Communion in the United Kingdom.

Bishop Patricia Storey came from Belfast to Trinity College, Dublin, and then went to Derry. She will be coming back to Meath and Kildare. Her appointment is a significant advancement for women and is much to be welcomed. I note that the other House is today discussing the work and life of Seamus Heaney. I will place in the Oireachtas Library correspondence which I have and which deals with how Seamus Heaney felt about the loss of our colleague, Trevor West, and which also contains good wishes towards this House. Seamus Heaney was named in a list being considered by the Leader and me for an invitation to address the House. He was very interested in the work of this House and I wish to acknowledge him in that way.

I note the shyness of An Taoiseach in that he does not wish to debate the future of this House with Deputy Micheál Martin because it might cause embarrassment. I think he means it might embarrass Deputy Martin but rather it might embarrass the Taoiseach. There is no need for embarrassment. The constituency which I represent has a debating tradition going back well over 200 years and we will afford protection for a maiden speaker like the Taoiseach on the subject of abolishing the Seanad. We will afford him full protection. Sometimes people waive those rights and they are applauded by the attendance. There is no need for the Taoiseach to be the slightest bit embarrassed. It could give him the opportunity to get away from his accident-prone spin doctors who do not know either the functions of this House or the cost.

On the issue of the functions, I refer him to a statement by our Leader in the debate on 26 June 2013 when he stated that blocking legislation is not what the Seanad is about; improving and enhancing legislation is the key contribution we make to the legislative process and the current score is about 550 amendments made by this Seanad. We have sat 110 times for 698 hours. We play a major role. We invited the Orange Order to the House. The House has a citizens liaison group which the Dáil intends to copy, belatedly. All the MEPs have addressed the House as has a Nobel prize-winner in economics and a United Nations speaker on disasters. This Seanad, this Leader and this Cathaoirleach have been effecting change. Only a Member who attends one hour a year would be unaware of that. The one hour a year equates to one minute for each of the 60 Senators whom the Taoiseach wishes to sack.

I welcome the announcement from the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the National Transport Authority that the railway line connecting Heuston and Connolly stations is to be reopened. We suggested this in the House and the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, took the suggestion on board. I think CIE did not want to reopen the line. It took the Minister on a tour by way of Manulla Junction or some place and said it was too long. However, this view has been overruled. We have a perfect piece of infrastructure which has concreted sleepers installed as well as an electronic signalling system. The Minister and the National Transport Authority will reopen services to reunite the railway system. This all happened here in this House and it is another credit to the way in which this House serves the people, particularly those in west Dublin, where the Socialist Party has many posters saying the Seanad is useless. This railway connection will be a practical benefit to public transport in that area and this should be noted by the people concerned. We should thank the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, for taking notice of what we do say in the Seanad and ignoring the advice of CIE on the matter.