Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Ward for sharing time. I was listening to the debate in my office. In the first instance, I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, to the House. I do not know him very well, but I have followed and always admired his career. I look forward to working with him on an interesting portfolio.

My first time to attend this House was in the mid-1990s when Maurice Manning, who was my then lecturer in UCD, brought us to the House.I am not sure if Senators Byrne or Higgins were there at that time, when we all soldiered together in UCD. The big discussion then was Seanad reform. No Seanad reform has taken place since that day back in 1995.

This Bill is welcome. The important distinction in the Bill is that it is giving weight to the decision of the people in the 1970s. The people actually voted for this. This was a specific question that was put to the people and these Houses have not accommodated that decision, so it is somewhat different in that sense. The Bill very much reflects the decision of the people at the time.

I always believed that we should look at the positives that the House, in its current and previous structures, has. I look at people like the former Senator Sean Barrett and the immense contribution that he made between 2011 and 2016 during my first term in the House. I also agree 100% with Senator McDowell about the late Feargal Quinn. I think he had more Private Member's Bills in this House than anybody, certainly in my time. They are two people I served with who stood out, and many current colleagues have impressed me enormously. This House does make a difference. I look at the work you have done, a Chathaoirligh, through the Seanad Public Consultation Committee, groundbreaking work where we shone a light on areas in this country that needed a light to be shone on them. The structure that is there at the moment does need to be changed. We do need to extend the franchise. About that there is no argument.

On the role of the county councillor, we should bear in mind that the county councillors who vote for many of us, including me, get their mandate from the people because they are directly elected by the people. I have described them as the professional electorate in the sense that we walk into each and every one of their homes and engage with them, bearing in mind that they have been elected themselves. They bring a vast array of experience and myriad knowledge that is quite remarkable. The give feedback to you, a Chathaoirligh, me and our other colleagues in terms of the work we do every day, and there are the ideas, the suggestions and the wealth of experience and opinions. Sometimes there are daft ideas, but a lot of the time they are very much on the money, seeing around bends and curves before other people do because they are on the ground where they receive their mandate. Many of them have been on the councils for decades. They know this country. They know every fibre, every move of this country and every move within their communities.