Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is ócáid iontach brónach ar bealach amháin ach áthasach ar bealach eile go bhfuil sé i gcesit agam a chur in úil duit i scríbhinn níos deireanaí go bhfuil mé ag éirí as mo shuíocháin Seanad. I am going to be resigning my seat later this afternoon. I am hearing the decision is sending reverberations through Parliament already because it is thinking of closing down tomorrow. It might not be able to cope without me but I am sure it will recover.

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh aíonnaí speisialta atá liom inniu anseo. Tá siad sa ghailearaí. Meallaigh agus na gasúir agus daoine as Gaillimh so tá Cairbre, Aoibhinn, Fáinte, Rian agus Síofra agus mo chara, Chris Davy, ag obair liom ins an oifig i nGaillimh agus tá roinnt daoine nárbh féidir leo taisteal inniu agus tá siad ag breathnú ar an idirlíon, go háirithe clann Meallaigh a thugann an-cúnamh dúinn sa bhaile agus ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh do gach duine a thug an deis dom a bheith anseo ar an gcéad lá riamh. I want to thank all of those who are watching at home or could not travel and those in the Gallery.

I thank those who gave me the opportunity to be here and elected me in the first place. It has been an absolute honour and privilege to serve in the Seanad for seven years. I am conscious it is unusual that Senators get to resign their seats on their own volition. I am conscious of former Senators, Denis Landy and Jimmy Harte, who did not get that opportunity and I wish them well in everything they are doing.

I had a wonderful seven years and some amazing experiences in the House. I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Members of the Seanad and Dáil whom I have worked with. I also thank Mr. Martin Groves, Ms Bridget Doody, Ms Carol Judge, Ms Niamh O'Grady and foireann Oifig an tSeanaid for being a wonderful resource to me and great friends over the last number of years, as well as the secretariat and staff of all of the committees. People might not recognise the amount of work done behind the scenes to support the committees. They have been fantastic.

I thank the Parliamentary Reporters agus tá mo chara, Séamas, anseo. Bím i gcónaí ag breathnú ar éadain na Parliamentary Reporters. I often take a glance at the Parliamentary Reporters because they are very stoical in their position and tend not to react to what is going on, no matter what the shenanigans might be. However, I have often wondered what is going on inside their heads. I look forward to the memoirs of a number of them. They are still not giving anything away. Is iontach an obair a dhéanann siad.

I also thank an rannóg cumarsáide, the communications department, the sound team and the audiovisual team. We are all in the new era of Youtube, Facebook, etc. Without the work they do in recording us in the Seanad and on the committees, we would not be able to get ourselves out there. The Library and Research Service has been invaluable. We launched a report yesterday on island schools and it did amazing work on the background and on other projects. I thank the one-stop shop that helps us all and all of the administration staff in these Houses, including the Captain and the Superintendent. I say a special word of thanks to Mr. Colm O'Rourke and all of the ushers.I have made great friends with so many of the ushers over the years agus go háirithe don chuid sin atá ag foghlaim na Gaeilge. The catering and bar staff in these Houses are fantastic. They are exemplary and have been great friends over the years. The cleaning and maintenance people come in very early in the morning. I am the type of person who comes in early in the morning and I would often bump into them in the corridors and have a chat. I thank them. The porters have been very busy in the past number of days on my behalf bringing stuff in and out to the car. I also thank the printing and design team agus dream a thugann an-tacaíocht domsa mar gheall ar chursaí teanga comh maith an t-am ar fad ná rannóg an aistriúcháin agus táimíd buíoch dóibh sin. Na hiriseoirí polaitiúla - the political correspondents, the Dáil studio staff and the local and national media. I hope I have not left anybody else out. I thank them sincerely for all they have done. Tá an-áthas orm gur éirigh liom a bheith mar ghlór phobal Conn na Mara agus do Gaillimhe, do chúrsaí Gaeilge agus Gaeltachta fad agus a bhí mé sa Seanad. One of my parting messages would be not to forget seachtain na Gaeilge ag tosaí an tseachtain seo chugainn so I would hope people would follow in the footsteps and try to use as much Irish as they can for seachtain na Gaeilge. You never know when my replacement is to be nominated. Members might think of persuading their party leaders to nominate somebody who might have cúpla focail as well to take up the mantle of the Irish language and speak on behalf of rural affairs, human rights and civil liberties, particularly the issue of direct provision, which was close to my heart and which I will be following.

This country has had an amazing role with regard to our diaspora in international affairs. I would like to think there are conflicts around the world where this Government or Governments to come could take a role to help keep and foster peace. I hope that this could happen even in the situation between Catalonia and Spain.

As elected representatives, we have an incredibly privileged role. It is a great honour but also a great challenge. It is important for me to acknowledge today that when one is an elected representative, one's life really is not one's own. Such people are in the goldfish bowl quite a lot. It is a very challenging life physically and mentally and affects everybody around them - their family, extended family, friends, etc. It is important to note that, which is why I have the height of respect for everybody in the Seanad and Dáil along with councillors because I know the pressures people are under and I think it is important to recognise the great work they do for their people. I have really enjoyed working with everybody here. We have had the odd spat here and there but I hope I have not offended anybody too much and if I have, my apologies.

My good friend, Senator Black, mentioned John O'Donohue last night, which got me thinking. The great John O'Donohue was a poet who lived in Connemara. I came across a quote of his which might be a nice parting word to leave with the House. He wrote:

Part of understanding the notion of Justice is to recognize the disproportions among which we live [...] it takes an awful lot of living with the powerless to really understand what it is like to be powerless, to have your voice, thoughts, ideas and concerns count for very little. We, who have been given much, whose voices can be heard, have a great duty and responsibility to make our voices heard with absolute integrity for those who are powerless.

Guím gach rath ar gach uile duine sa teach seo agus beimíd ag caint le chéile arís tá mé cinnte so go dtí go gcasfar lena chéile arís muid, go n-éirí an t-ádh libh.