This is the last Order of Business for this Seanad and, on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, I thank Martin, Bridget and all of the staff in the Seanad Office, the Head Usher and all of the ushers in both Houses for their courtesy, support, co-operation and dedication. It has been a huge privilege for me personally to serve in this Seanad and it has been a privilege for my colleagues. We greatly appreciate the support all of the staff have given all of us, individually and collectively, to complete our work. We are indebted.

Second, I raise an issue I have raised in this House before, which is the withdrawal of the 11 bus service from Drumcondra. This proposal has been aired for many years. I have engaged in the public consultation going back to 2017 and 2018 along with residents associations, including the Griffith Avenue and District Residents' Association, the Drumcondra Triangle Residents' Association and the Iona and District Residents' Association. Many residents associations have engaged voluntarily in 2018, 2019 and 2020 right through until today. Yesterday, the NTA got on a call with more than 20 elected representatives. We spent more than an hour and a half on the call with the NTA imploring it to engage with the residents, that is, just to meet with the residents and with the travelling public. The NTA is refusing to even get on a Zoom or Teams call with residents, citizens, taxpayers and the travelling public to discuss its proposal to withdraw the 11 bus. This is a vital public transport service in my community, but it is not just my community that is affected by it. It is currently a cross-city service. The NTA, in its infinite wisdom, is going to withdraw it on 8 December and it is not acceptable. It is not acceptable to the people of Drumcondra, Glasnevin, Finglas and Ballymun. The Minister for Transport must intervene and stop the withdrawal of the 11 bus on 8 December. He can proceed with the E spines; they will be welcome. We would welcome him proceeding with the A spine and even accelerating it, but to withdraw the 11 bus service is unacceptable and it must be paused.

I welcome the day of action taking place today with An Garda Síochána on our public transportation. The Deputy Leader and the rest of the House will know that my colleagues and I have been raising the issue of public safety on public transportation, in our public spaces and on our streets. Everyone in the city wants to feel safer. It is welcome that gardaí are doing a day of action today on our DART, Luas and bus services, but one day of action is not good enough. It is not sufficient. We want our dedicated Garda public transport unit. The public is demanding it. The workers on public transportation, the NBRU and SIPTU are demanding it. It must be delivered.

I echo the pain expressed about the NTA. On several occasions, I have sought Commencement matters with the Minister for Transport and he has refused to believe he is accountable for its actions. We have similar reductions in bus services across Crumlin, Inchicore and Chapelizod that have actually necessitated a huge volume of extra car journeys. I thank the Senator for reminding me. It is absolutely appalling. We have had the NTA before the transport committee and there is no answer. It will not engage with residents' associations or with the people whose lives are affected by the reduction in services. This is so-called trying to bring people into public transport, so it is extraordinary there has been a reduction in services, causing more car journeys. Especially from a Green Party Minister, it really is quite shocking and an appalling abdication of his responsibility to the people, particularly in Dublin and Dublin South-Central.

I raise an extraordinary matter that arose earlier this week. I tabled a Commencement matter on Tuesday regarding the commencement of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act, and the Minister of State, Colm Burke, was sent in with a speech to read out on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. He did so. I got very annoyed because it changed everything that had been committed to on the floor of this House and on Committee Stage in the Dáil. I liaised with the groups and, by that evening, I had a telephone call from the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, telling me that the speech that had been sent in was completely wrong, misleading and should never have reached the floor of this House. What an extraordinary situation. These are real people's lives. These are real children who need that legislation to be commenced. The idea that a speech would be presented to this Seanad by the Department of Health to be read out and then the Minister responsible for it completely reneges on the speech and, to be fair, goes back to all of the honourable commitments he previously made is really shocking. It is playing with people's lives.

While we are on the subject of playing with people's lives, throughout my four and a half years as a Member of this House, I have spoken about apartment defects time and again. I work with Sam and Odette Doran on the Not Our Fault campaign. They have been promised money and have jumped through every possible hoop there is to make sure that Park West is a pathfinder. In fact, they have set a template for every development in the country with regard to how this should be done, how you liaise with the fire service and with everything that is involved. While there is any delay in the payment of this money, real people are living in apartment complexes that fall well below the standards for fire safety.

Real people's lives are being affected. The Minister, Darragh O'Brien, promised them that they would receive money within seven to ten days, but the ten days are up and there is still no sign of the money. We hope there will be a phone call today. These are people’s lives. This is not about a Plinth photograph or a big moment in the newspapers or on the “Six One” news. This is about Ministers actually doing their job, delivering the money they promised and delivering for the people. It is not acceptable that people are misled or led a merry dance just in advance of a general election. I hope that, by the end of today, we will have that telephone call and the money will be on its way to remediate the apartment defects, arising out of appalling Celtic tiger standards, that were left neglected for years at the cost of people in their homes and at risk to their lives.

I echo the sentiments of gratitude to Mr. Martin Groves, his staff, the ushers and all the other people in Leinster House who have looked after us so well over the past four and a bit years. We are truly in their debt. I will be saying other things about the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission later, but I note that, in the explanatory memorandum to the Bill we face today, the commission did not even bother to take out the paragraph seeking permission from the Government to print the Bill in the first place. It slipped through in an unrefined way.

This House will remain in position until the eve of the election of its successor. Therefore, it will be available to the incoming Government in December and January to conduct business if there is urgent business to be conducted. Members of this House will remain in office unless they get elected to the other House or resign in the meantime.

When it comes to the status of this House, Leo Varadkar came in here on 1 February 2018 and promised us he was going to reform the Seanad. He cynically and disreputably junked that promise. As such, we have a Seanad that will continue until the method of voting its Members into place is reformed. We have a Seanad in which 43 Members are elected by approximately 1,200 others. If the new Bill on university Seanad representation passes, the country will be divided in a most undemocratic and non-republican manner between those who have a degree and those who do not. It should be stated that, on occasion, the Government says it reformed the university seats. It sent in its Attorney General to oppose any reform of the university seats. When he lost that case, he sought five years to do something about it and was given two. This is a House where the Government used its majority to vote down the proposal on the election of the Cathaoirleach by secret ballot despite a commitment to the opposite being given by Leo Varadkar. This is a House where the guillotine is used more and more routinely. All of these things remain unresolved and unreformed. Although I wish well those Members of this House who seek election to Dáil Éireann, this House will exist up to and after the next election and the case for reform has never been stronger. The need for the Government and Opposition parties and Independent aspirants to Dáil Éireann to back the case for Seanad reform has never been stronger.