Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Seanadóir Paddy Burke as ucht an obair a rinne sé mar Chathaoirleach le cúig bliana anuas. Ba mhaith liom fosta mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le Deirdre Lane agus a foireann as ucht an cuidiú a thug sí, ní amháin domsa ach do gach Seanadóir.

I thank the Leader for being such a good Leader, and the Chief Whip, in particular, for the cross-Border task force, on which he did a great job, and for keeping us in line.

With regard to Senator Feargal Quinn, the Russian novel and the Irish short story have the same feature, which is called the "críoch ciorclach," or the circular ending. The people of Dundalk have a fondness for the Senator but they were a wee bit annoyed with him that he went down to Drogheda and helped it. Perhaps he will come back to Clanbrassil Street now with an overarching plan for the regeneration of the town of Dundalk, seeing as he made his first billion in that town.

Two points stood out for me in the Seanad. As education spokesperson, I noted that we were the ones who introduced the education and training boards Bill and the further education Bill. It is important that we raise the status of vocational education and skills training. The education and training boards are doing a good job in this regard. All, or most, of the amendments came through this House, so we can take special pride in that.

I support Senator Jim Walsh regarding Justice for the Forgotten. We need to keep the debate going here. We cannot allow the issues not to be explained fully to the people. There is no hierarchy of Irishness. When someone stands up and says he or she is an Irish republican, he or she should note that we are all Irish republicans. We live in a republic.

I was on Raidió na Gaeltachta yesterday and someone rang in and asked me in a friendly way whether I still support doing away with the national anthem. Senator Quinn raised the subject of the national anthem on one occasion and I added to his remarks by saying, just for debate, that we should do away with it altogether and have another one. The caller made a remark to which I was not able to reply.He said on a radio programme that it has been sung in every school in Ireland, but I would have told him that it is not being sung in the Shankill Road or in east Belfast. I love the national anthem, and I still get choked with emotion when I hear it. However, we must remember that when we make a statement about something we might not always be inclusive or working on an all-Ireland basis, but that is a debate for the next Seanad.

I want to thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach, Senator Denis O'Donovan, who always gave me more time than the Cathaoirleach did.