Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----and many more. The one Senator that I remember was Sam McAughtry. I recognised him from his radio programmes. I knew that he was a trade unionist who hailed from an area called Tiger's Bay in Belfast and that he was on the first peace train. He was a Senator in 1996 and I had read his articles which were published in The Irish Times. I was not involved in politics at the time but when I met him on Grafton Street, I said to him "How are you, Sam" and that was the first time I spoke to a real Senator. It is great to be here but civil society must be represented in this forum in an advisory and revisionist capacity. We can only delay Bills rather than veto them. It is right that cultural minorities should be represented in this House and in the past five to ten years, things have changed.

People say the Taoiseach of the day should not have the option of nominating 11 Senators. However, the Taoiseach nominated me to the Seanad and he chose well.