Cathaoirleach a Thoghadh - Election of Cathaoirleach Seanad Éireann — 2025-02-12 ============================================================ Cathal Byrne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel Congratulations to all who have been elected or nominated to the Chamber. It is a particular honour for me to give what is my maiden speech. I begin by congratulating the Cathaoirleach on his appointment to the role and wish him the very best of luck. From what people have said, I have no doubt he will leave a very strong legacy and I look forward to working with him. I also thank the Clerk, Martin Groves, and his team for the work done during the count. I look forward to working with the Seanad staff and colleagues across all parties. I am conscious that I am joined here by my parents, Peter and Theresa Byrne. It is a particularly honourable moment for me given the fact I started out in public life when I was elected at 27 to Wexford County Council. Similar to Senator Duffy, I contested three elections in the last year. When I started out on Wexford County Council, I never expected that I would end up as a Member of Seanad Éireann. It is a particular honour to be here and I very much look forward to the time ahead. I am conscious that I am, and am proud to be, from Wexford. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only Member of the House from Wexford and that will be very important for me with regard to the issues I prioritise in the Chamber. We have challenges in County Wexford, and I am thinking in particular of the need for the Oilgate to Rosslare motorway to be developed and finished. I am thinking particularly of Wexford General Hospital and ensuring it is resourced with staff, that the long-promised 97-bed unit extension gets delivered and that we have all of the supports necessary for our accident and emergency department, which covers not only County Wexford but the south-east region. I hope this is something we can work on and that our new Leader will ensure we have a debate on that issue. I congratulate our new Leader, Senator Kyne, who was elected, like me, on the cultural and educational panel. I very much look forward to working with him. I also thank my partner, Sarah, and my two young children, Aoife and Eoin. Aoife will soon be four and Eoin just recently turned one. Childcare is a big issue for me. As a young Senator I am very conscious of the fact that is an issue that disproportionately affects young families and that is something that I want to prioritise in this Chamber. I am very much looking forward to working with everyone here. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-02-12/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:29+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-02-12