Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much support this Bill. I am not from an academic background. I travelled around the world in the 1980s and worked in Australia and the US. My father spent most of his life in London. I am very proud, privileged and honoured to be a Member of the Seanad. Twenty years ago, I never thought that I would even be on Roscommon County Council or elected to the Dáil twice so I am very honoured to be in the Seanad.

I was first elected to the Seanad in 2002 on the administrative panel. There were five different panels. I want to take issue with one or two people. There are three panels that I would have been unable to contest. I could not contest the labour panel because I was not a member of a trade union. I could not contest the cultural and educational panel because I never entered third-level education. I could not contest the agricultural panel because, as they say in Boyle, I came from the yard of a counter and if I went to a mart, I would be found out. Those checks and balances were there and there were only two panels I could have got on to - the administrative panel and the industrial and commercial panel. However, I bring life experience. I employed 30 people in businesses. I like to think I have something called "cop on". One needs to see two sides of a story.

I would love to have gone to college but I did not have the time and had to take over the family business as the last of the family. If I had gone to college, perhaps things might have been different but it is something I would love to have done. It is something I would encourage if I was starting out again. We sometimes find academic snobbery in this country whereby people are put in their place. Growing up in a town, one would see the doctor, dentist and solicitor. They could all be great drinkers who drank a bit too much in the local pub but they were great. However, if a tradesman drank a bit too much, he was an alcoholic. Everyone brings a certain life experience to this Chamber but I would be concerned that the consultants think they know better than the man in the street. In the 1970s, a fondue set was a big thing and it allowed people to eat together while discussing how to run the country. Sometimes one needs to hear the views of the person from the farmyard, the shop and the trade union as well as those of educationalists and academics and to have a bit of backbone. That is what this Seanad is about and we have a good balance. However, the way Senators are elected is outdated and undemocratic. One must hand it to the Taoiseach for having the backbone to put the matter before the people, who voted to retain the Seanad. We can laugh all we want about the matter. In 2002, Seanad reform was to be brought in and it was said on radio that it would make a difference and that we would do this and that but, unfortunately, it never saw the light of day. Today's Bill is welcome.

Over the years, there have been great Senators, such as Michael D. Higgins, who went on to become President, Garret FitzGerald, Dr. Douglas Hyde, T.K. Whitaker, Mary Robinson, Bríd Rogers, Gordon Wilson from Enniskillen and Mary McAleese.