Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers, I wish the best of luck to former Senator, Jimmy Harte, and his family.

The result of the Seanad referendum was clear. The people of Ireland have said that they value this House. Hopefully, they value its Members as well and we do the best job possible when we are elected to the House. It is a privilege to represent the people of Ireland. This House has an important role to play in the Irish parliamentary system. Equally clear, however, was the vocal support for the House to play a more effective role as a safeguard against possible excessive populism in the other House. This House comes to the fore in that regard. I mentioned earlier today that in the case of one Bill, we accepted 14 amendments tabled by the Opposition. Senators should take note of that. They were accepted and appeared on the list of amendments with the names of the Senators who had proposed them as well as the asterisk to denote Government amendments.