Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim míle maith ag an gCathaoirleach. I thank you very much indeed and I congratulate you on your appointment. It is very well deserved. The Cathaoirleach has a remarkable track record and he was a tremendous support to me throughout my general election campaign. I look forward to his advice and help throughout my new venture here.

I congratulate all Senators here, no matter what their route was to get here. As a former journalist, I have a new-found respect for what Senators do and I wish in a way that I had been a little bit easier on them along the journey.

It is a huge honour for me to be here today and I will not take that lightly nor the fact we have 27 women here today. That is 45% of the Chamber, which is definitely heading in the right direction. We have, of course, nine in Fianna Fáil, so it is a real honour to be part of that. I say thank you so much to An Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, for nominating me and for giving me this opportunity to be here today.

If the House will indulge me, I would like to say a quick thank you to my family and friends who were such a tremendous support and showed so much patience while I was trying to forge my way into a new venture. That is my daughter Holly, my son Luke, my brothers Michael and Paddy, and my sister Louise. I know that my mum and dad, Pat and Phyllis Comyn, would be so proud to see me standing here in the Seanad today.

I also have to say that I had a remarkable campaign team in Louth, especially in Drogheda. They nearly helped to make history by becoming the first female Fianna Fáil TD in the Drogheda area in 70 years. That did not quite happen but they have made me the first female Fianna Fáil Senator. I am very proud of that.

When signing the register yesterday, I was delighted to see that a Senator Michael Comyn signed his name in 1928. I am not sure if we are directly related but I am certainly going to inherit that connection, whether it is true or not, because it is an unusual name and I would like to think I am following in his footsteps. A big thank you to the Clerk of the Seanad, Mr. Martin Groves, for finding that book and showing it to me. It was a very special moment.

I would like to echo the Cathaoirleach's words that the likes of local government and local democracy are very vital and it would be tremendous to see them come back into play. One of the tenets of my general election campaign last year was to bring back the likes of local government and town councils. It is the path of making Drogheda a city again and I very much welcome that he mentioned some sort of task force to bring that into being. I look forward to seeing that and to being able to look into that as well.

As many Senators have done, although some like me were doing it for the first time, walking through those doors into such an historic building, Leinster House, places the weight of history and responsibility on my shoulders. It is something that I will very much bear gladly and will never take for granted.