Mark Daly Declares Impartiality and Urges Strengthening Local Democracy

I now call on Senator Daley to make the declaration and take the chairs. I do solemnly declare that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my knowledge and ability execute the office of Cahirlik of Sianadairn without fear or favour. By the rules as laid down by this House in an impartial and fair manner, maintain order and uphold the rights and privileges of members in accordance with the constitution and the standing orders of Sianadairn. I want to first of all and foremost thank the father of the House, Senator Wilson, for beginning this Sianad term. Senator Wilson has served with distinction in many roles and positions throughout his term of service in Sianadairn. The very difficult role of WIP, which can be challenging at times and will be challenging in this Sianad more than most, he also served as party spokesperson on defence and championed the cause of the defence forces here and on public radio. For that long service, I would ask you all to recognise Senator Wilson and give him a round of applause for his long service. I would also like to pay tribute to Senator Gerry Butler, our former Cahirlik, who served with distinction in this House and decided again, as Senator Wilson has pointed out, to go to the lower house and we wish him all the best. I know when he served in this office, he does as everyone does in this role, he serves without fear or favour and in an impartial way and that is the way I propose to continue. I want to thank my proposers and secondaries, Senator Fiona Lachlan, despite the fact that we are on the same panel. We work well together and one of our newest members, Senator Shane Curley, for seconding me as well. But to all of you who are members of Sianad-Irn, it is a true honour to work with you and to listen to your ideas and your proposals and how we can work together to make this a better functioning part of our government because if it was perfect, there would be no need for improvement and nothing in this world is perfect and that is where your ideas are important in that regard. When Minister Norma Foley was proposing Micheál Martin for a tea ship in 2020, she opened with the line that to be from Kerry is a privilege and an awesome honour. That was of course a line that was by another Kerry man, John B. Keane, a man of letters and great words and great wisdom, but to be a member of Sianad-Irn is also an awesome responsibility. It is a responsibility given to very few. We all know the challenges of getting here, to be involved in public life. People who serve in Sianad-Irn do not get here on anything other than their merits and hard work and dedication and relentless effort. I suppose the last 12 months have been one of the most extraordinary in human history, in the fact that the world's population of some 3.7 billion people were entitled to vote of the entire population of the world. That is the most people that were ever entitled to vote in the history of humanity. In 72 countries elections took place, Ireland was one of them. We are one of the few, only 14 countries, that have been continuous democracies for the last 100 years, 14 countries. To be in that small group is truly important. To stay in that small group is always a challenge. We should never take democracy for granted. We have seen democracies slip under the tide in the last 10 years. We cannot assume that we will continue just because we have always been there. We worry about our friends in other countries who are facing challenges in relation to their democracies. That is why in the last Janet we held a public consultation on the future of local democracy, the key recommendation of which was the establishment of a task force on the future of local democracy to look at all the elements of our local government. Because local democracy is the bedrock for national democracy. Many of you served in local government, that is how our democracy works. Our national government is based on our local government in many senses. We succeeded in getting the key recommendation that there would be a task force established by the government in the programme for government. I look forward to working with you in how the Janet will play a role in that process over the next number of years. In terms of the reforms that we made in the last Janet, we built bridges. We invited the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords to address us here in Shannadair. It was the first time ever the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords addressed these houses. I think a historic bridge building exercise. We also worked with our colleagues in Northern Ireland. The Speaker invited the American Irish State Legislators Caucus to Northern Ireland to see for themselves how the United States was responsible for not only making the peace process possible, but also their involvement and continued involvement in ensuring the peace process continues. And Edwin Poots hosted those Irish-American legislators and is working with them on how we, as an island, can build bridges to our cousins in the United States of America across the 50 states. And I think that is as important now as ever. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American War of Independence, in which the Irish played a key role. We look forward to celebrating with them that struggle for independence and reminding us all that while they were there for us during our peace process and during our struggle for independence, 250 years ago, it was the Irish that were there for the United States of America. I think Lord Mountjoy lamented in the British Parliament, we have lost America to the Irish. And in this role, many initiatives were brought forward in relation to the scrutiny of legislation. That is what we do. We are ultimately legislators. One of the committees we established in the last Senate was the scrutiny of EU-related draft statutory instruments. Now, if that isn't the most boring title for a committee in the history of humanity, I would be challenged to come up with a less exciting title. However, the work of that committee is important because up to that point, legislation that was coming from Europe was being added to by government departments. No TD, no senator, no ROCTAS committee would see it before it was signed into law. 70% of our legislation every year is made in that manner. The Shannon committee is now responsible and will be responsible for making sure that the public who are entitled to see what laws are being made on their behalf by their government are seen by the legislators before they are signed into law. We stand on the shoulders of joints, as Senator Wilson has pointed out, the many who have gone before us who sat in this chamber and often championed unpopular causes. Mary Robinson, during Shannon 100, outlined how sometimes she could not even get a seconder for some of her proposals that we now take for granted today. Those voices, often minority voices, became majority voices over time. We obviously remember today our great friend and colleague Senator Norris who sat in these chambers and championed the cause of minorities who had no other voice and no possibility of another voice in the parliament. I see over Senator Higgins nodding her head and her father, too, who championed many causes here. And, of course, WB8 has made many speeches in this, which Senator McDougall, I think, is an aficionado of his great comments in relation to that we are no petty people, and indeed we are not. We are here standing on the shoulders of giants, and I will finish in relation to my own family. My father is here today, my brother Conor, my mother is watching online, and my sister Elaine, my brother John and Conor are over there as well. My campaign team of nieces and nephews, who are a great campaign team, although they are not too enthusiastic about stuffing envelopes sometimes for campaigns, but without them I would not be here. And finally, Grace Coyle, who is not here at all, my good friend, and a great champion of all my campaigns, who will work with you all, along with myself, to ensure that we make this country a better place, because that is simply our role. Go raibh maith agaf. Go raibh.