The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on budget 2015, to be taken at 4 p.m., with the contributions of group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes each and those of all other Senators not to exceed five minutes each, and the Minister to be called on to reply to the debate not later than 5.55 p.m.

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Senators, I formally welcome the newly-elected Senator, Gerard Craughwell, to the Seanad. It is a momentous day for him and a proud day for his family, the members of which are present for him. Like all colleagues across the House, I look forward to working with him and to his adding to the experience and knowledge of the House. He will mostly find it collegial. From time to time, we have disagreements, but that is what it is about. The by-election is over, Senator Craughwell rightly won it and I congratulate him in that regard. From my perspective and that of my colleagues, we look forward to working with him. We in the House work together. Our focus is on the good of the people, the members of the public who elected us, on doing our job, on continuing to make the Seanad relevant and on moving towards further reform. Senator Craughwell's election may spur the Government into bringing about the reforms for which the people voted in the Seanad referendum but that is for another day.

I do not intend to delay the House further on any other business, as the Budget Statement will begin in the Lower House at 2.30 p.m. Since we will have our own budget statements at 4 p.m., many Senators will want to see the Budget Statement and consider its provisions. As such, I will agree to the Order of Business and again congratulate our new colleague on his election to Seanad Éireann.

I join others in welcoming the new Senator, Gerard Craughwell, to the House. He will bring a particular expertise in education and I look forward to his participation in debates on education legislation and statements on education.

As others will agree and many Ministers have remarked, a strength of this House lies in debating legislation, particularly on Committee Stage, where the expertise of individual Senators feeds into improving legislation on an ongoing basis. I very much look forward to working with the new Senator, along with my colleagues, and I speak on behalf of the Labour Party group in the Seanad.

Like others, we look forward to the budget today. It is the first, after seven budgets, in which we will see no cut in public services. We hope to see a raising of the threshold for the universal social charge and widening of tax bands.

I am very pleased to see reports that there will be extra spending in the justice area, which is my own area. We know already that Garda recruitment has started again, which is very welcome. Many of us have welcomed the initiative already but I welcome the reports that there may well be increased resources available to modernise the Garda fleet. It is very important that there is investment in Garda vehicles.

I welcome the establishment yesterday by the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, of the working group on direct provision. This House has played a central role in seeking improvements in the direct provision system and sought to ensure that the rights of those in the system are respected. I am glad to see that the working group will be made up of a good range of people who will bring a range of different expertise, such as people from the NGO sector and so on. I am also glad that it will be chaired by former judge, Mr. Bryan McMahon. We very much look forward to the report of the working group which has been charged with making practical recommendations to the Minister on how the system may be improved, not just that the delays in the system will be tackled but also that the rights and the dignity of those currently in the system will be respected. Go raibh maith agat.

I warmly welcome Senator Gerard Craughwell to the House. I have no doubt that my colleagues in the Independent group of Taoiseach's nominees would like to extend a warm welcome to him. We look forward to working with him in a constructive atmosphere that I hope we can embody here in this House for the betterment of the people of Ireland.

I also join in congratulating the Minister for Justice and Equality and her Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, for the excellent selection of members for the newly established working group referred to earlier. The range of people selected is unique and it is good to see personal experience, academia, civil society and departmental views represented. It is good to see the working group is headed up by former judge, Mr. Bryan McMahon. Such diversity is essential for an holistic review of the current system and I am optimistic that we will have a positive outcome. I still hope that the report will be ready by the end of December as promised by the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, in this House. We have a very strong Seanad cross-party working group on direct provision and I hope we can deliver on the issue.

My final comment is on the budget today. In my former life I was in the Children's Rights Alliance and I used to tune out of the budget on the morning of it because I often got confused by everything that was said and whether it would turn out to be true or not. I hope that many of the things that have been said will relieve the hardship, stress and distress being experienced by many children, families and young people in Ireland. I also hope we will have time later today, when discussing the Budget Statement, to reflect on what is actually in the budget and how it will pan out. I will look particularly at the impact on children and how their lives will be improved and not just simply having cash transfers and going back to the old way of doing things. We debated in this House, after the last three budgets, the need to invest in services at local level and I hope we see those investments.

I join in the words of congratulations and welcome extended to Senator Craughwell, our new Senator. His election is a cumulation of a hectic few weeks. I also welcome his wife and son to the Chamber today. He is another man with Galway connections so there is no doubt he will be a strong advocate for the west and also a very strong advocate for education and investment in education. I very much look forward to working closely with him for the remaining year and a half of this Seanad. Today is a proud and wonderful day for him and his family. It is also an historic occasion to arrive on the day of the budget, a day that he will not forget for many years to come.

I welcome the fact that this afternoon the Minister for Finance will present his budget. As the Leas-Chathaoirleach has said, we will have statements on it at 4 p.m. I hope we will see a budget that will secure the recovery that has been evident in recent times, that will build on the sacrifices that people have made over the past three and half years and that we put in place structures and a budget that will ensure we will not repeat any of the mistakes of the past.

I also hope it will give some relief and some benefits to people who have been hard hit over the past few years. We are all waiting with interest and excitement for the budget that will be presented at 2.30 p.m.

I take great pleasure in welcoming the new Senator Craughwell to Seanad Éireann. It was a remarkable victory. Mr. Craughwell, as he was then, contacted me in advance of the election and we had a very good discussion. I indicated that Independents do not normally support candidates, but that since he was an Independent, if he needed a name I would supply it. In fact, he got two nominations, so he did not need me to add my support. I am extremely glad. He is precisely the kind of person that we need in Seanad Éireann - a person of independent mind, with clear views.

I was extremely impressed by what he said. I was sitting with my ear cocked, listening to what he said to the media, and when he was asked about voting the Government out or voting it down in the Seanad, he said "vote on the issues". That is the policy of the Independent group. We are all independent of each other, we discuss policy but we do not always come to the same conclusion, and we vote as a matter of conscience. I must say I am struck by Deputy Peter Mathews's introduction in the Dáil of a formula from the Bundestag, where every single Member is allowed, and indeed required by the constitution, to vote according to their conscience. Germany has not collapsed. This shows that democracies can allow for conscience, so why not do it here? I welcome the fact that Senator Craughwell is also a teacher, like myself and Senator Barrett, who is a professor, and I think the Seanad will be strengthened.

The fact that the Government is technically in a minority is good for democracy as it means we can hold it to the principles enunciated at the time of election and we can influence it. However, we do not block, we are not destructive, we are not negative, and we wish to co-operate. I am glad to say that Senator Craughwell has so far indicated that he will be joining the Independent group, and that is another great addition. It is notable that in the three by-elections, one for Seanad Éireann and two for Dáil Éireann, neither the Government nor the Opposition managed to get a seat. That says something about the mood of the electorate, as did the march of 100,000 people through central Dublin a few days ago. We will get into that later on.

With regard to direct provision, we may be able to be of some help. I have been in consultation with some people and a Bill has been prepared. I hope to introduce it, seconded by Senator van Turnhout, in the fairly near future. That will be a test, and we will be able to see then what we can do by the passage of such progressive legislation.

This is a good day for Seanad Éireann. I welcome Senator Craughwell.

Like others, I warmly welcome our new colleague, Senator Craughwell. If my maths are correct, we have a situation now where in excess of 10% of this House has Galway connections. Seven of the 60 Senators have Galway connections.

Join us, Senator Conway, join us.

That is quite a remarkable achievement.

I studied Senator Craughwell's CV in advance of the election and what struck me most was his commitment to teaching and education. I have often said in this Chamber and in other fora that education is the great equaliser. Whatever one's background in society - whether one has a disability, or comes from a poor background - if one gets a quality education, the goalposts may be moved into an equal position. One will then get the same opportunities as everybody else. I am, therefore, like others, looking forward to Senator Craughwell's contributions in the area of education. I would also like to acknowledge his family in the Visitors Gallery. It is a very proud day for them. I remember the first day I came into Seanad Éireann. It was one of the proudest days of my life, so I can appreciate how he is feeling and the sense of achievement and pride in being a Member of the Irish Parliament.

The budget is today, a historic day. Every budget is historic in its own right. I sincerely hope that education is protected and, indeed, that we see more primary school teachers, in particular, and that there are no further cuts to education in the budget.

We need to realise that the time has come to reinvest in education. We have had enough of cuts over the last seven years in terms of SNA hours, resource teachers and so on. I am looking forward to a positive budget in terms of education that will hopefully bring many more citizens in from the margins and ensure that we will see a more equitable framework.

I would like to join in the very warm welcome to Senator Gerard Craughwell on his membership of Seanad Éireann and to welcome him to this House. I congratulate him, his wife Helen, his son David and his daughter Rebecca on this great achievement for the family. Senator Craughwell is a former president of the Teachers Union of Ireland from 2012 to 2014. He played a very important role in that union; indeed the former Minister of Education, Mary O'Rourke told me during the campaign that she knows Senator Craughwell very well and has great admiration for him, and when Mary says that, she means it. She enjoyed working with him in the Department of Education. Senator Craughwell joined the Army at a young age and then went on to qualify as a teacher. I welcome the fact that he is from Salthill in our neighbouring county, County Galway.

I also welcome the new Deputies that are coming into the Oireachtas - Deputies Michael Fitzmaurice and Paul Murphy. I commiserate with all the other candidates who ran in the by-election last Friday, 10 October, particularly Councillor Ivan Connaughton who headed the poll in Roscommon-South Leitrim, and to John Lahart who polled well in the other constituency. They were very courageous in putting their names forward and all the other candidates who ran in that election played a very important role in the democratic structure. I wish them all well in the future.

I also wish to say, in case anyone has any doubts, that Deputy Micheál Martin, the Fianna Fáil Party leader, played a very important role----

I remind the Senator that this is not a party political broadcast.

Let me say this. He played a very important role in the constituency of Roscommon-South Leitrim and the other constituency. I can assure the House that I have never come across a more popular leader in Fianna Fáil in my time and I have served under five or six of them.

Senator----

Deputy Martin will be glad to hear that. He will put Senator Leyden on a list.

If anyone has any doubts about his continued leadership of the Fianna Fáil Party, he is going to lead us into the next election and will be successful then.