Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the 29 Members of the House who contributed to the Order of Business. Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom, ar nós an Cathaoirleach agus na Baill eile, fáilte a chur roimh gach éinne go dtí an Teach seo. Ba mhaith liom mo fhíorbhuíochas a ghabháil le foireann Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí, Teach Laighean agus Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann as ucht na hoibre atá déanta acu. Tá an ceart ag an Cathaoirleach nuair a deireann sé gur lá iontach, speisialta agus stairiúil atá ann. In welcoming everybody to the Chamber I am mindful of the words of Albert Reynolds. I hope it is a temporary little arrangement and that we can go back to our home, which is a very fine Chamber in itself. Today, in the Ceramics Room, we are paying tribute to the museum but our own Chamber is also an extraordinary Chamber, and it is a privilege for all of us to be here today as Members of the Upper House to mark the opening of our temporary home.

I thank everybody who has been involved in allowing this to happen, from the board of the museum to the museum staff, and I want to allay the fears of the museum staff. We are here as temporary custodians and we want to continue to work with them to ensure a smooth transition. I pay tribute to the team under Superintendent Conway of Leinster House. The officials from the Office of Public Works did tremendous and Trojan work during the summer recess. I also pay tribute to the Cathaoirleach and the staff of the Seanad Office for the work they have done, along with the Ceann Comhairle and the staff of Leinster House. I look forward to a very successful tenure here in this Upper House.

We are in the decade of commemoration, and it is important that when we commemorate the first Dáil in 2019 that we do so in our own home, in the Seanad Chamber. It is important that the Houses of the Oireachtas, the OPW and the Government spend money on ensuring the working environment of members of staff, Members of the House and our personal staff is always upheld. This is not a vanity project. As we all know quite well, this is about ensuring our Parliament, the Houses of the Oireachtas, is suitably located in Teach Laighean. It is about ensuring we have a Parliament which can represent the people in the decade of commemoration we are now celebrating. I will now respond to the multiplicity of issues raised by the 29 Senators. Senator Ardagh raised the issue of Brexit. I assure the Senator that the Government is not being passive or an idle passenger in the car: it is very proactive. The Taoiseach was in London yesterday to meet with Prime Minister, Theresa May, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, and Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, have been travelling around Europe and the world outlining the Government's proposals. All of us welcome the movement by Prime Minister, Theresa May, in her speech last Friday and recognise that this is an evolving situation. At the risk of sounding a politically discordant note, the British Government and the Tory Party in particular are moving their position as the process moves on. Following on from the remarks made in the Dáil last week and by Mr. Barnier yesterday, it is important that we allow Government, in tandem with all, to pursue and promote the Irish interest. This is about protecting the peace process. It is about ensuring that we do not have an economic border, that we do have a common travel area and that Government recognises the importance of all of this. We will work to ensure that our position is heard not only in the United Kingdom but across Europe, as we have been doing.

In regard to the issue of homelessness and housing, all of us, from our clinics and communities, know people who have had the harrowing experience of living in hotel rooms or poor accommodation. These constituents are not just statistics, they are people, some of whom we know and are our friends. I remind Senator Ardagh that her party, Fianna Fáil, cannot be absolved of blame in this regard. Fianna Fáil was in government for 14 years.