Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Taoiseach on his second visit to this House in the two and a half years since he assumed office. I respect the Taoiseach and his office but I expect the Taoiseach to respect the Oireachtas, as elected. I put it to the Taoiseach that the fact that he has only once, prior to this day, attended the Chamber in his tenure shows he does not fully respect the Oireachtas as it is currently constituted and this is concerning.

I speak, first and foremost, as a citizen of this country, as an Irish citizen, and, second, as a Senator and a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas, someone who has served in the Dáil and the Seanad. I have seen where reform is required in both Houses and I see the legislation that the Taoiseach has put forward and his explanation of it as nothing short of rushed and vague.

I would not take the task lightly should I ever get to the heady heights of Taoiseach of the country, which is unlikely, nor would I propose a referendum on the abolition of the Seanad that would make more than 75 specific changes to Bunreacht na hÉireann. As the Taoiseach has noted, it is a document that has served this country well in the main. The proposal is more concerning in the context of the Government, led by the Taoiseach, having an historic majority in the Lower House. Power in the Government, the Executive and the Taoiseach in the past two years in particular has been further centralised in Cabinet and the Executive by the creation of the Economic Management Council, on which the Taoiseach and three other Ministers sit.

This proposal is all the more concerning because the Taoiseach is proceeding with the referendum without referring the issue of reform of the Seanad or what should be done to the Seanad to the Constitutional Convention. When the Taoiseach returns to the House for his third visit I will be keen to hear about his rationale for not referring this important change in how the Oireachtas operates to the Constitutional Convention. I speak as someone who has attended the Constitutional Convention. I was impressed with the work done there. I was cynical when I went in first but I was impressed subsequently with how the work was done. It was a reasoned debate. I do not see in any shape or form any reason not to refer this to the Constitutional Convention.

Further, I call on the Taoiseach to explain the timing of this referendum and whether he intends to hold the referendum in October. Do I take it the Taoiseach intends to hold it before the budget? Is that his intention? If that is his intention, I put it to the Taoiseach that this is simply a diversionary tactic from the difficult decisions that he will have to make in the upcoming budget. I realise they will not be easy decisions and that choices have to be made by the Government.

I can inform the Taoiseach from talking to people where I live, in north Dublin, that reform of the Seanad is not even in the top ten items that people discuss. The vulnerable people, the victims of the economic downturn referred to, rightly, by the Taoiseach yesterday, are keen to see Government action on matters such as mortgage arrears, jobs, employment and emigration.

The Taoiseach has put this forward as a cost-saving exercise. I call on the Taoiseach to ask those within the Government - clearly not many of them agree with his proposal - to be honest in the debate and during the course of the campaign about what this is really about. The Taoiseach has bandied about figures of savings of between €20 million and €50 million. More recently, Deputy Paschal Donohoe in an article in the Irish Times referred to a figure of €50 million. That is absolute nonsense and it should be put to bed.