Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Taoiseach. If only he received applause like that every morning. In the course of his service as a public representative and in public life, he has, by any measure, made major changes in the posts and Ministries he has held. Of course, one of the posts he has not held is that of Senator, so we are delighted to welcome him to the Seanad, even for a few hours. Since he was elected to Cork City in 1985 Council and to Dáil Éireann in 1989, and as the first citizen and Lord Mayor of Cork from 1992 to 1993, his public service has been about change. In his first Cabinet post, as Minister for Education and Science, he championed the cause of special needs assistants. In 2004, as Minister for Health and Children, he gave Ireland the distinction of bringing in the first workplace ban on smoking. He was the first Minister for Foreign Affairs to visit Gaza, in 2010, bringing the eyes of the world on that humanitarian crisis, and he bypassed the blockade on the region. Time does not allow me the opportunity to outline all the changes he has implemented, but I wanted to highlight just a few of them.

I thank the Taoiseach for coming to the House. As we know, he fought for the Seanad, not as it was in the past but for what it could or should be, in that famous referendum. One of the key changes was allowing more people to vote in Seanad elections. To the best of my knowledge, the referendum on the seventh amendment to the Constitution is the only one passed by the people that has not been enacted, by successive Administrations. As we approach our 100th year, it would be timely for the Government to support legislation that would give effect to the amendment, which was passed more than 40 years ago. It would expand the right to vote to our citizens and increase the number of people entitled to vote in reformed Seanad elections from 150,000 to, potentially, millions.

With the support of all the party and group leaders and the Members of this House, we have implemented the relevant recommendations in the Seanad reform reports that were within the power of the House to action. For the first time ever, we are reviewing the recommendations of Oireachtas committee reports. Yesterday, Deputy Lawless, the chairman of the Joint Committee on Justice, appeared before us to talk about the report his committee has put together on the issue of rape and sexual violence. We examine these reports six months after they have been published in order that we can see which of the recommendations have, in fact, been actioned. The debate yesterday outlined the continued action that is required to ensure all the recommendations proposed by the committee will be put in place.

Another of the renewals relating to the increased engagement with the public and nominated bodies, such as charities, trade unions, farmers, business organisations and the cultural and educational sectors, on issues of concern to them in our new Seanad panel forums. The first of these topics related to ending the practice of non-disclosure agreements by universities, which silence victims and protect the guilty, allowing abuse to continue. The Government has now committed to introducing legislation to address this problem.

One of the constant themes relating to Seanad renewal and reform has concerned the scrutiny of European legislation. Parliamentary language is often complex and, in some ways, is used to confuse and to prevent transparency. In legislative phraseology, the European Communities Act is used by Ministers, who have total authority, to transpose EU directives by way of statutory instruments that can be annulled only by resolutions of the Oireachtas. In essence, this means Departments add to EU legislation, which is signed into Irish law by Ministers, without Deputies, Senators or parliamentary committees seeing it, bypassing democratic scrutiny. The worst example of this was the bypassing of Deputies and Senators, and even the Joint Committee on Health, on the first and, to date, the only organ-donor legislation in the history of the State. No Deputy or Senator or even the health committee had sight of that legislation before it was signed into Irish law, and Mark Murphy, the chairperson of the Irish Kidney Association, stated that it was the worst transposition of that EU directive in the European Union. With the Taoiseach's assistance and help, we hope the House will play a role in ensuring that such laws will be scrutinised by the Oireachtas.

Next year is our 100th anniversary. Established in the midst of a bitter, tragic and divisive Civil War in which many families, including my own, lost loved ones, the Seanad played a role in establishing and consolidating the democratic institutions of our State. Between November 1922 and February 1923, 37 Senators had their homes destroyed. They were intimidated and kidnapped, but none resigned. The first Seanad was described as having the most diverse bunch of politicians in our history. It had 36 Catholics, 20 Protestants, three Quakers and one member of the Jewish faith. Its Members included, famously, W. B. Yeats, as well as Michael Duffy, a road worker from County Meath, Eileen Costello, a civil rights campaigner, Bryan Mahon, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in Ireland between 1916 and 1918, Jennie Wyse Power, president of Cumann na mBan and Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde, the great-grandson of Henry Grattan, of Grattan's Parliament. The creators of the Seanad ensured it was diverse to give a platform for the unionist and minority communities who found themselves in the new Free State. Over time, it evolved to give different minorities and communities a forum to ensure their views, voices and calls for change, change that society was not yet too ready or willing to make, were heard. Those voices included a sole voice. Our colleague, the father of the House and the longest continuously serving Senator in the history of the State, Senator Norris, is the embodiment of the Seanad, as one of the minority voices that has led to major change. We are fortunate that Senator Eileen Flynn was appointed by you to represent the Traveller community in this Seanad. She is using that position to bring change and to have a voice for her community, a community that has suffered on the margins of our society for too long.

Finally, next year, when we mark the Seanad's 100th anniversary, we will be glancing back but also looking forward. We hope, with your and the Government's assistance, we can make the changes we seek for the next 100 years, so the minority communities can continue to make major changes in this House to benefit us all on this shared island. Thank you, Taoiseach, and we look forward to your address.