Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election. In his first term he worked to open up the Seanad, which is something I really respected, by bringing voices in. People voted for a reform of the Seanad, and while we wait on that, we ourselves must reform how we engage in the Seanad and do our roles even if it is in the restricted manner it is.

While I fully respect people finding ways to relate to each other about the counties they are from, I cannot but help think that we should judge each other and relate to each other based on the values we hold.When I think of the Palestinian people, the people in Sudan, the two people who die each day from overdose, the approximately 70% of people in prison who have not completed any form of State exams, I do not think the counties we are from will ever actually matter to their lives. I know people are just being friendly but we should start as we mean to go on. We should be able to work together and I have always done so. I have passed legislation and amendments in this House through working with people from all parties and none, but we must not value that above all else. We must also value the actions people take within the roles we have. We can be polite to each other and work together but it is not only words that matter. It is not only the things we say which we can agree on, pat each other on the back and say, "That was a job well done, we all worked together and got on", but it has no material effect in the world. We must be able to work together and then look out into the world and see that working together actually produced something real in people's lives and made change, rather than just saying we will work together to make change. We must find ways to measure the impact of working together rather than it just being a thing in and of itself that we like to say we do in the Chamber. I say this to challenge ourselves to be able to work with one another and do the work. I am not saying that to divide us in any way. I am saying it so that we actually turn the words we say in this Chamber into actions in society.

When we talk and think about solidarity, we must think about it in its truest form. Senator Mullen referred to everybody having dignity and the issues of social cohesion and solidarity. Solidarity never divides. Solidarity is taking values and extending them. Those who come last come first. If your politics do not reach those who come last, they are not about solidarity and social cohesion. When we think of the people in the LGBTQ community, I hope the likes of Senator Mullen includes them in the picture and discussion on solidarity and social cohesion and when we talk about all lives having dignity. The work in this Chamber should bring people together. It should never, ever divide. When we use language, we should be very sure we understand what that language means in effect in the world. This Chamber is a very important place to tease out not only those concepts and values, but to actually turn them into real-world effects.

I congratulate everyone on their election. I did not think I was old enough to be one of the veterans in the room. I am not feeling it and I am not liking it too much. When I was first elected in 2016, I was completely blindsided. I did not even know what I was going to be doing as a Senator. I ran for the Seanad and wondered what it was. I can imagine there are people coming in and wondering what to do and how to do it. There are many people in this room who can share that knowledge and wisdom on how to do the job in an everyday sense. In 2016 when I looked at the statistics on being elected, Mary Robinson was the only other person to ever get in on her first run. David Norris was the last person before me to ever unseat an incumbent. When I ran, I had no sense in the world that I was ever going to be able to infiltrate that space. I acknowledge Trinity College because this is now the last Trinity constituency. I recognise my election in those years as breaking some of the moulds and statistics I never thought I would break. I want to say RIP to the Trinity College constituency and to acknowledge that it put some very unusual voices of their times into the Seanad, whether that was David Norris or Mary Robinson. There are many people who came through that constituency who made massive change. I thank the constituency, which, thankfully, is made up of people from all counties and from around the world. I acknowledge that, although those university constituencies have been changed, they have served a very important period in history in terms of the work I have done and the work others who preceded me have done. I welcome everyone to the Chamber and I look forward to the next five years.