Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Norris. I welcome all of our guests and acknowledge the Ministers who are present. I acknowledge the presence of Senator Buttimer's husband, family and friends. I want to acknowledge the great Fine Gael support that is here and acknowledge all of the Senators.

I thank the father of the House who is in the Chair. It was a great honour for me when I was first nominated, in the context of Seanad elections, by Senator David Norris and former Senator, Feargal Quinn, and Deputies Seán Barrett and Maureen O'Sullivan who are Independent voices, Independent choices and exemplars in their own field. I was greatly honoured to accept the nomination and again the second time.

I am usually arrive here at 7.30 a.m. I left my house this morning and when I sat into my car and turned on the radio the bips sounded on RTÉ Radio One signifying the news at 7 a.m. I listened to the radio on my drive in here and one of the leading news stories was that the beginning of the transition of Government was going to take place and the rest would happen tomorrow. The news continued by stating that Senator Jerry Buttimer would be elected as Cathaoirleach and the Leas-Cathaoirleach would be Senator Mark Daly. That is the prediction and I am not naive but a pragmatist concerning this election. I believe in collaborating with people and that collaboration is a core essential of the job of Cathaoirleach. I am a realist in the sense that I know that the Government is a large one and a tripartite coalition that mobilises itself in a very professional way, which is politics.

Last night, I received two or three calls from people who suggested that I pull out of this election but I said "No" because it is important that we have elections, and that politics is about elections. Those callers suggested that I would lose but I replied that, quite frankly, I believe, and I think this goes for most of us if we are honest, that we learn more from a loss than from a gain. If we were never to go for election then none of us would be here. If we were to think we would be defeated all the time then we would not venture beyond ourselves or our perceived limited capacity. Therefore, I genuinely think that it is important that we have an election.

Article 15.9 of the Constitution speaks of Seanad Éireann's exclusive right to order its business and choose, by whatever means our Standing Orders permit, a Cathaoirleach and later on, by motion, a Leas-Cathaoirleach, which again is in our Standing Orders. What is somewhat disappointing and worth noting by anyone who is listening to this debate is that we do not have a secret ballot. For some reason we, in Seanad Éireann, have no secret ballot to elect our Cathaoirleach and Leas-Cathaoirleach. People will ask why and there are many reasons but I will not speculate. We know that in the Lower House that the Ceann Comhairle and Leas-Cheann Comhairle are elected by secret ballot.The Cathaoirleach was elected by a secret ballot and the Leas-Chathaoirleach was by a secret ballot. I want to focus in particular on the Leas-Chathaoirleach because that threw up a surprise. People had the confidentiality of the ballot box. They had privacy. They did not have anyone looking over their shoulders or applying a whip on what they may wish to do. That is something that we need to challenge ourselves on in this House. It is not all about the status quoand showing support for the political establishment of the day.

Looking back at the foundation of the State and particularly the foundation of the Seanad, there was no provision for the breakdown of political affiliations in this House. That is something that came along by precedent and the establishment. It suits various people to have it that way but there is no requirement that it should form. That is something that has developed. That is an important point.

I do not want to divert too much but I think it is important that we have choice in politics. The Independents who have served this House from its foundation were of a very high calibre, as were many other Members. It is very hard to quantify sometimes what Independents are but they are not whipped. They are free. Some people in this House will make a decision today because they are in a political structure. I respectfully understand they have to have some sort of co-ordination of how they operate their organisation and their party but there are others on this side of the House and we can vote for who we like and we walk away without any ramifications. There is no one threatening to throw us out or saying we are not toeing the line. That is an important point about Independents. It is important that we have participation and elections. That is why I have stood in local elections and here. I never thought I would be elected to Seanad Éireann and I was and further, I was elected a second time. It is not really about politics, it is about people. It is about winning the hearts and minds of people. It is about sitting around a table and breaking bread with them. It is about fellowship, sharing and building relationships. I have always tried to do that. Many a Minister may come in here and I might have a disagreement in terms of policy but I will always respect this House. I will always respect a Minister, Minister of State or the officials in this House. They serve this House well and with distinction. Each one of us sees the world from where we stand and our experiences within it. We bring those experiences through our lives. I am not too sure if one can distinguish between personal and political because that is our very being. Most of us have been politicised by experience and what has happened to us many years ago. I would never want to come in here and think that I had lost where I came from. If I was honest, and I am, the day of being elected to Seanad Éireann was not my greatest political achievement. My greatest political achievement personally was the day I was elected to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the town that I grew up in. Certain sets of circumstances brought me there and I chose to continue to live there and I still live there. I walk by that town hall nearly every day. The greatest political achievement for me was being there with the connectivity and that acceptance and acknowledgement of the people who live around me, my citizens. I have no doubt in saying that Senator Buttimer is an exceptionally good candidate. I am not here to promote him but he is. I worked with him in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. We travelled on various parliamentary delegations. We worked well here. He was the Leader of the House and I was the leader of the Independent group. He is a pragmatist too. There are a lot of similarities between the pair of us. When one is passionate about politics and what one believes there can be a certain amount of volatility around that but that is all part of it.

I am happy, willing and ready if people want to elect me for the job but I am equally happy to be a follower and to collaborate with other people and support other people. I have no doubt on this occasion that Senator Buttimer will be the victor today but those are the numbers because it is a numbers game. However, it is important that we do not all go around in the next six or nine months or a year doing nothing. I will leave Members with one challenge. Let us commit ourselves to Seanad reform and open it up to everyone outside this House. This is not an elitist little club and should not be. I would like to think that in the coming weeks and months we will set the task of seeking to provide in our Standing Orders that the election of Cathaoirleach and Leas-Chathaoirleach of this House will be by secret ballot where no one has anything to fear. It makes clear sense that is the way we go.

I wish Jerry, the election and the Senators well. They really do a good job. Despite what people may think, we are quite a close bunch of people. We defend this House. We always have. We recognise and respect the institution that it is.

I want to thank the staff. I thank the Leader and the Deputy Leader and I particularly want to thank Senator Mark Daly. He was a man who stretched this House. He opened up new possibilities. There is no need for constitutional changes or reform. I say this in a positive way for the new Chair, which is hopefully Senator Buttimer and it looks like he will be: use your imagination. I know he has lots of it but Senator Mark Daly set an example in this House.