James Heffernan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Brian Hayes, back to the bosom of his political life.

When introducing this Bill, the Taoiseach stated that there were too many politicians in this country and his remedy to this terrible malaise was to abolish, abolish, abolish. The Government has taken a wrecking ball to the sum of our democracy. Town councils, for instance, are being done away with altogether. They are being wiped off the map. City and county councils are being amalgamated. My own county of Limerick has a modest political representation of 45 councillors and now, with both local authorities combined, is losing five. We will be down to 40.

What we have now is a personal solo-run against this Chamber. I played in a junior B county final on Tuesday night last and there are not many lads who would go on personal solo-runs in those circumstances. The Taoiseach may end up on the flat of his back after this particular solo-run. I wonder from where this crusade has come. When the Taoiseach came into this House as a chap a long time ago, maybe a Senator told a Mayo joke that he took up the wrong way - I do not want the Cathaoirleach to be offended.

It is amazing that the Taoiseach, the longest serving Member of the Oireachtas, has been here nearly 40 years and suddenly this light switch has gone off in his head. He had his St. Paul on the road to Damascus moment just as he was about to give his address to the Fine Gael presidential dinner. I often wonder whether the few glasses of Merlot he had with the dinner did not agree with him fully. He came up with this gem of wisdom that, as he was not getting the attention anymore and the spotlight had been taken off him, he would shout, roar and scream his head off until he got the desperately needed headlines that he deserved, and he would call for the abolition of the Seanad. After 40 years here, it suddenly dawns on him that the Seanad was the problem all along and he wants to hang the Seanad out to dry. It was always a bonkers proposal.

The Taoiseach was on the record the previous summer at the MacGill Summer School in Donegal - maybe there is something in the air in Donegal - stating that Seanad should be reformed. He spoke of how fantastic a contribution a reformed Seanad could make to democracy in Ireland, but then, all of a shot, he changed his mind. It is becoming somewhat of a feature that leaders and members of this Government can change their minds at the drop of the hat. They say one thing and then turn around and do the other.

The Taoiseach, when he proposed this Bill, compared this country to Finland. In fairness, Finland has a similar population to Ireland. I studied in Finland for a while. Finland has an elected politician for every 550 people. It has a fantastic devolved system of local government that has real powers, and it works. Here, we have a politician for every 2,476 people, including local and national representation, but when the Taoiseach is finished with these fantastic reforms that he promises, there will be one politician for every 4,144 people. It does not add up.

The Constitutional Convention was an admirable notion. Fair play to the Government for taking the initiative. The Constitutional Convention was set up by the Government to debate the Constitution but it has become an utter farce. The Constitutional Convention, made up of fantastic persons such as Senator Bacik, can debate changing the voting age from 18 to 16 years, yet it cannot debate the future of this Chamber-----