Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom cúpla focal a rá. First, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his success last night in being democratically elected to the Chair. I wish him very well for the term ahead. The father of the House gave him a fair run for his money. I am sure Senator Wilson finds it strange to be called father of the House. I do not know whether we should call him "Father Wilson" or what his title will be.He is a bit young looking to be the father of the House but there is no better man for the role. I also wish Senator Fiona O'Loughlin well in her tenure leading Fianna Fáil as a political group in the House.

I offer my best wishes to my Donegal colleagues, outgoing and newly elected. Senator Boyle has just spoken. I served on Donegal County Council with his father, who was a man of great pride and an absolute gentleman. Senator Boyle is following in his father’s footsteps but he has got a step further into this House. I know he will represent his part of the world and his part of the county to the best of his ability and I look forward to working with him. Senator Bradley is also a Donegal lady. She lives not too far from me, in the town of Milford, and I know many of her family well. She has been a fantastic advocate for disabilities and cancer services, and I look forward to working with her. I served with Senator Flynn in the last term and I wish her well. As she said herself, she was appointed the last time but she has had a great achievement in getting elected on this occasion. She is a fantastic advocate for her people. I wish her well and look forward to working with her, as well as with all my Donegal colleagues and all others in the House. Everybody is on their best behaviour here today and we all want to work with each other. No doubt, that will change somewhat tomorrow, but we all have a job to do.

I come from a family in the north of Donegal. This is our 100th year of representation, the same as the Fianna Fáil Party. I come from a very proud tradition of republicanism. The family has given 154 years of representation at the European Parliament, at ministerial level, in Dáil Éireann, at the Seanad level and in Donegal County Council. We all come from a small house in north Donegal, of which the Cathaoirleach is aware. We were all born and reared there - all five councillors, two Senators and four TDs - so it is a particularly proud day for me to stand here, and to be here for the period of that 100th year of representation.

On the back of that upbringing and the republican homestead I was brought up in, it would be remiss of me not to talk about the shared island movement that is going on at the moment. While we all talk about constitutional change, for me, too many talk about having a border poll. The Government is planning and investing, as well as having 62 different pieces of research to identify what is taking place on this island, North and South. That is real planning, not hearsay. We can all lead in this regard, and I commend Senator Clonan for his speech today. Where the real preparation needs to happen is with representation in this country. We all need to take responsibility when it comes to the national question. We all need to take responsibility in reaching out our hand to the 1 million people on this island who feel closed off in the north-east corner. There are 11 counties in that part of the country that have been affected, not just six, because there are also the Border counties in the South. It is the ten Border counties plus Antrim, so more than a third of this country is still badly affected by our history. However, we now have it in our power to change all of that and to make a better future for the next generations.

Even while discussing the next generations, there is work that we could do to mirror some of the work that is done by organisations that work with schools, North and South. School classes and schoolchildren are coming together and are funded to meet on a regular basis to discuss politics and actually get to know each other. Our big problem, not as politicians but as a society, is that we do not know each other, North and South. We are afraid to engage. I think the Cathaoirleach can change that. We need to start bringing young people from both sides of the divide, North and South, into chambers like this and start driving change and engagement. As politicians, we need to then take ownership and put out our hand to the unionist community, not constantly battle with each other.

We say an awful lot about democracy and how democracy works here when it is not working in other parts of the world. It is not working very well north of the Border either at the minute, although that is not to condemn the parties. As politicians, North and South, we need to be a big brother, particularly in the South. I would also like to see the Cathaoirleach developing those relations and having more North-South interaction with the politicians through the forum that the then Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, and the Speaker, Edwin Poots, set up in the autumn. I would like to see that process back up and running again. I would like to see much more interaction because it is relationships that are going to move this country on, not what the Governments put in place. It is about the relationships. The relationships are not there and if we are not big enough to stand up and drive those relationships, and put our hand out, we are wasting our time and the referendum will not go anywhere. It is on us to improve for the next generation.