Nicole Ryan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to echo the sentiments of Senator McDowell and others in this House. For us, this is our first test of justice and fairness. We talk about this and we all work together but the system here right now is not just and fair. It is in favour of other people. I want to talk about this because I feel really strongly about it. For years and years, I have not seen someone who looks like me or who looks like Senator Flynn in the Seanad, making decisions and talking about issues that affect me and the people on the ground and who really get it and who get what it is like to live in a marginalised, disadvantaged community, to be a migrant, to be from a different country, to be at a disadvantage at all levels and to make one's way up here to try to make a change.

Of course all of us will work together and that is fair enough. That is what we are here to do. We are Senators and we are not technically bound by parties, even though we are all members of parties and we all know that. However, there has to be reform. This is not the way it should be. It is not just and it is not fair.

It is phenomenal that Senator Flynn is here. It is good to see people who represent regular people who are watching this. Everybody watching now can see themselves in certain Senators. That is what we are here to do. We are here to represent the normal, everyday people. I echo the sentiments of all the other Senators around the reform of this because things do need to change and right now the system is not fair at all.