Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 13 Jul 2022

I would like to join with others who wish the staff that run the Senate well as we head off towards our recess for the summer. This weekend the Sunday Mail carried a story about the leader of this House and myself and a bill that is passing through this House at the moment, the Air Navigation and Transport Bill. The article spoke about the likely impact on the leader's position as a result of the position she has taken in the House. We are senators, we are not TDs, we are not county councillors, we are senators. We are here to evaluate and praise legislation as it comes through the House. There should be no whip. We are elected to vocational panels, we don't have constituencies. We are elected to university panels. That is it, that is where it starts and that is where it ends. The leader looked at the legislation, found flaws with it, similar flaws to what I found myself and took a position. And I think she should be honoured, not castigated for that. To help, we will be disputing it for two hours tomorrow. Yes, I appreciate that. But the point I am trying to make here, and this is something maybe we should all reflect on as we go away for the summer. And that is the role of the Shanadirn. Most of us here are proud to be in this House. And the role of this House is to challenge government. The role of this House is to look at government legislation and to work its way through. The role of this House is to initiate legislation and to bring topical matters of concern to the nation to this House. And I found it particularly difficult to read the article on Sunday because I know how deeply committed the leader of this House is to her job and to the legislation. And it is not an easy thing for a member of a party to stand up against legislation that is passing through the House. I know I slagged my colleague Senator Earne here yesterday for representing Tipperary, and we all do it from time to time. But, you know, I mean, every day in here somebody stands up and talks about their constituency. I do not have a constituency. I come from Galway. I live in Dublin. I do not have a constituency. But I fully accept people do. But look, I would ask us to reflect over the summer on the role we have here, the vitally important role in challenging government. Thank you very much indeed, Senator Crockwell. Thank you for those words.