Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Fine Gael group of Senators I too would like to pay special tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, on what is ground-breaking legislation. It took almost the lifetime of the Government. That simply shows us how important the legislation is. My comments on perfection earlier were rebutted by one of my colleagues. Anyway, perfection was not achieved by the great Greek and Roman civilisations in practically anything they did. I do not think politics can ever achieve perfection. All we can do is strive to ensure we leave society and the processes within society in a better place than we found them.

We should strive to ensure our country, nation, democracy, people and citizens, including vulnerable citizens, who are all citizens, ultimately, have a better deal than when we came to this House first. Certainly, in terms of this legislation, we have gone a long way to achieving that. Perhaps it is not perfection but we will get there. I hope the people who come after us in this Parliament can improve it to ensure their legacy will be far better.

I wish to acknowledge the non-governmental organisations. Many representatives from these organisations are in the Gallery and many are looking in on television and the Internet. If it was not for NGOs and the vital role they play in society, I do not think we would be as advanced as we are today.

I had the great privilege of officially opening a centre of excellence in the University of Limerick for equipping and offering continuous professional development to NGOs and people working within NGOs to ensure the level of professionalism that exists today in those organisations improves and increases. This will ensure they are among the most professional NGOs in the world. The commitment is in place and I firmly believe that as we move forward we will have a great little nation for people who are vulnerable. That is all we can achieve.

I wish to pay tribute to Carol Baxter, her colleague and the other officials in the Department. Often their work is not appreciated but it is important for parliamentarians to acknowledge their work. If they did not prepare or deal with the various nuggets that cropped up, as well as the conflicts in the legislation and so forth, then the Minister of State would not have been properly advised and, in turn, those of us in Parliament would not have been advised either.

It is a tribute to all Senators across the board that we have not divided on this Bill. It is not perfect but it is a significant step forward. It may not be a giant step for man, as someone said once in space, but it is a significant step for the people who really need it.