John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

What seemed important before seems less important afterwards and things which seemed unimportant and that were neglected before become more important afterwards. Collectively, this House did have the fabled near-death experience. For one, I can freely admit that about a week before the referendum I would have thought we were truly on death row; that this was an unsalvageable enterprise. It should change us. Perhaps I am being terribly naïve, but I do see little seeds of the fruits of that experience in the interactions of my colleagues who are coming forth today, because it should change us.

Not only should we mop our brow with relief at what we just missed but we should also listen to the bad stuff that was said about us because a lot of it is true. That is the reality. Many of the charges which were laid at the door of the Seanad were sincerely laid by people who knew what they were saying and who had some validity to what they were saying. Rather than just moving on from here and saying we have survived - nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, we should take on board the message and see how we can learn not only from our little triumph last week but also from the valid criticisms which were made. We should all change our perspective, not just the members of the big parties. I am sorry if I have been disproportionately critical of the big parties in the couple of years I have been a Member, but it is important that there should not be so many opportunities for people in this House to see a motion or proposition as a Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Labour Party one. The reality is that we have been given a certain level of personal liberation. It is pretty obvious that many of the people who are the bosses of some of the Members in this House and in the other House were not as supportive of this House as they might have been and people should regard that as a liberating experience. I do not ask anyone to preach sedition or insurrection against their organisations but with a clean conscience they can look at various propositions that come before this House and various ideas which come to us from an entirely different perspective without checking in their long-held loyalties at the door.

The question of priority should also change in respect of those who have had the near-death experience. We should really work out what is important to us as Senators. I will not delve into any of the stereotypes but people should understand the work that takes place in this House is important because it is important in this House, not just because it may be a means to achieving other ambitions we may have. I am not saying the other ambitions are illegitimate, as Members are entirely justified in pursuing them, but Members should try to minimise the effect they have on the way they do business in this House.

With the waffly aphoristic bit over, let me propose a few reforms. Reform No. 1 is to reform ourselves. We need to work out a new modus operandiwithin this House for doing business together. We do our business in a good way in this House but we can do so even better. We can be a beacon to the other House and to those who will inevitably be scrutinising this House to a significant extent in the aftermath of the referendum.

I am sorry if I sound boring. There are a number of very practical reform suggestions we can help to implement, with the aid of colleagues in the other House, relating to the reform of this House. I was very delighted to hear our Leader, Senator Maurice Cummins, and commend him on the way he conducted himself during the referendum campaign. He did an unbelievably good job.