Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I do not know you very well, a Chathaoirligh, but from the few conversations we have had you strike me as an energetic, enthusiastic and creative person and I look forward to working with you. Earlier we discussed your idea about having children in the Chamber to talk about climate and the environment and I would love to work with you on that. I look forward to working with you and the Members of the House.

This is a proud day for me, my family - my parents are here - and for my children, Finn and Cara, and my husband, Conor. It has been mentioned a few times already, but it is important to acknowledge that they enable us to do our work. I have campaigned through successful and unsuccessful campaigns in the last couple of years and I have been travelling from Galway West to Dublin and staying here for a few days every week over the last few weeks while we formed a Government. That was not easy on my family but they did it with grace, so I thank them.

We all agree that it is a historic day. First, we are here instead of in the Chamber. It is also historic for the Green Party to have four Senators in the House. I also thank the Civil Engagement group of which we are a part. It is wonderful to be in such a richly diverse group of people. It is historic also because nine of the 11 Senators appointed by the Taoiseach are women, but it is important to point out that this was because many women did not get elected. Let us not overstate the fact that nine out of the 11 are women and instead look to how in future we can help to promote the idea that there must be full representation, or 50:50 representation, among the genders.

It also has been mentioned that we do not have representation from the North. I wish to address that, although in a way Senator Blaney stole my thunder. I was involved in the Government talks and on the Northern Ireland part in particular. We took great pains to do things differently and to examine having a national planning framework that looked at the entire island, as well as looking at a cross-Border approach to pollution and environmental matters. It is one landmass and we must look at it that way, but we also have diverse communities. That is why having that unit in the Department of the Taoiseach is very important. It is not just the voices of politicians. The words of the programme for Government refer to stakeholder engagement, which is stakeholder engagement across the traditions. We were quite firm in using the terminology of a shared island because it is important to bring people with us and that we all make those decisions together for the island. I believe there is a great deal in that section on Northern Ireland from which people can take heart.

Today is also historic because we have a Minister of State in our midst. It shows great vision by Deputy Eamon Ryan and the Government that Senator Hackett is appointed based on merit. If we can continue that I believe we can secure very strong Government. She is appointed on merit because of her long involvement with the agriculture sector as a farmer. Who better to be a Minister of State? We must also ensure that we continue the strong tradition of robust debate in this Chamber. We are not a mirror image of the Dáil; we have our own voices in the Seanad. I would love to work with all Members to ensure that this continues.

I thank the staff and particularly the Clerk, Mr. Martin Groves, who sat with me and discussed my eligibility for the labour panel. I do not come from a trade union tradition in the same sense as other Members on the labour panel. Trade unions are very important but many in our society are left out of collective bargaining. Senator Flynn spoke eloquently and it is hard to follow that, but there are many people who are not in trade unions and have no collective bargaining. Those voices need to be heard. Some 360,000 people in the Republic are carers. The majority are unpaid and are women. They do not belong to a trade union. When we talk about labour and workers, let us talk about workers in the broadest sense possible. Let us stop referring to people who get up early in the morning and instead talk about people who engage in our community, who care and who contribute in ways that are often forgotten and ignored.I intend to be that voice in this Chamber, as well as the voice for children who have no votes and no voices, to go back to the excellent proposal from the Cathaoirleach to bring the voices of children in.

The planet has no voice and no vote. I am heartened by the many speakers who have brought up our global responsibility and our responsibilities on climate. While it was a very proud day for us to have four Green Party Senators elected, it is on the basis, not of pride, but of a grave responsibility. We were elected because the people of Ireland understand we are in a crisis and we need to follow through on that responsibility with action. I look forward to working with the Cathaoirleach.