Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Boyhan's comments on the Bethany Home. This is not a new issue and the group has been advocating back since the days I was working with the National Women's Council of Ireland before I was elected to the Oireachtas. It is shocking that the former residents are still waiting for recognition and support. The number of survivors of those homes is reducing and it is important that those who were there should get satisfaction.

I join in the commendations of yesterday's event. Let me articulate my sincere expressions of appreciation for the people of 100 years ago and all those who have followed since in the work of maintaining our democracy. I was particularly happy with the content, the Declaration of Independence, the Message to the Free Nations of the World and the programme of the first Dáil, which is an extraordinarily important democratic programme, as drafted by Thomas Johnson and reflecting so much of the social movement which had fed into the national movement of that time and of the thinking of Connolly and the ideas of the Proclamation. Will the Leader create an opportunity to discuss at an appropriate time some of those visionary documents and perhaps see how we could place ourselves in terms of the current vision for the next centenary? I believe that Senators are inheritors of the democratic challenge in the same way as those in the Dáil and it is very important that we would assign time for reflection and set ourselves the challenge to move forward. If we look at the extension of the franchise that took place in the 1918 elections, it would be extraordinarily positive if this was the year in which we delivered Seanad reform and extended the franchise and the delivery of greater democracy.

Let me draw the attention of Members and those in the wider world to an extraordinary exhibition - Women in Politics and Public Life, from 1918 to 2018 - which is taking place in Dublin Castle and which closes at the end of January. I urge everybody to visit it. It very much tracks the full century of women's political action, the political actions from every decade and the contribution that women have made across all parties.

I pay a brief tribute to some politicians, as a key reminder for all of us of the importance of democracy. We spoke about the tragic murder of the British politician, Jo Cox, a parliamentarian and a person who had championed an inclusive form of politics. In the past few weeks, another champion of inclusive politics who contributed to an extension of civic participation in the most inclusive sense in this city, the mayor of Gdansk, Pawel Adamowicz, was tragically murdered in the past few weeks. There was also an incident where a bomb was placed in The Diamond in Derry, the heart of the city. These are all challenges to democracy and it is important that we never retreat from them but instead redouble our commitment to democratic debate and to representation of the people as sovereign.