Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for being with us in Seanad Éireann today, as well as for outlining the work of the newly established child poverty and well-being programme in his office. In a very real way, it gives truth to the pledge in the 1916 Proclamation, which is in the main hall of Leinster House and speaks of "cherishing all the children of the nation equally". In the past number of years, Members of Seanad Éireann have implemented the Seanad reform recommendations set in the various reports where it was within the power of the Seanad to do so. However, there were other recommendations on which we need a Government decision. One was to provide for the scrutiny of EU directives, by way of statutory instrument, to remove the current democratic deficit whereby Departments add to EU laws and no Deputy, Senator or even Oireachtas committee sees them before they are signed into Irish legislation. The decision to establish a Seanad select committee on that important work was taken last year by the Cabinet with the support of the Taoiseach and his predecessor. The order reference of the committee is that the committee may examine proposals for any statutory instrument being made under section 3 of the European Communities Act. Unfortunately, at our first meeting with him, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European affairs stated that he was not able to give a commitment to the committee that we would obtain those statutory instruments. I ask the Taoiseach to meet the Chair and members of the Seanad Select Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments in order that it can do the work it was established to do and end the democratic deficit relating to the scrutiny of EU laws that affect all the people in this country.

Another key commitment in Seanad reform was the issue of public consultation committees. The committee we are working on at the moment relates to the future of local democracy. Last week, we saw an attack on our democracy. Local democracy in Ireland is not as it should be. In a report due to be officially published, the Council of Europe will outline that Ireland is the worst in Europe in this regard. We see there is a lack of people engaging in local democracy. All parties and the Independents are finding it hard to get people to run for election. We are finding it hard to get women to run, which is not a surprise given the abuse we see on social media. We look forward to the Taoiseach making a contribution to that important debate in this Chamber so that we can protect our local democracy. The Taoiseach went from a local democratic chamber to the national democratic chamber. Where will our national politicians come from in ten years' time if we cannot get them to look at this issue?

The other issue the Seanad is looking at is the constitutional future of the island of Ireland. We are doing so in the Seanad Public Consultation Committee. We have had people from all traditions before the committee. We have listened especially to the voices of young people and the unionist community. It will be no surprise to learn that I agree with the Taoiseach's statement that we are on a pathway to unification. I believe that will happen in his lifetime and, I hope, mine. I hope we live a long life. The lesson of Brexit is that you do not hold a referendum without proper planning and preparation. The all-party committee stated in its conclusions that it is clear that what we do in the next ten years will decide the next 100 years on this island.

We look forward to working with all the minority voices on this island. The theme of Seanad 100 was Minority Voices, Major Changes. Protestant unionist voices made up 30% of the Seanad 100 years ago. We look forward to being a central part of that debate. We will then finally be able to fulfil the pledge in the Constitution, to which the Taoiseach referred and on which we look forward to working with him, which is, as I said at the beginning, to "resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally". I thank the Taoiseach for being here.