Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. It is ironic given that he participated in producing a very good report by a committee chaired by Mary O'Rourke and attended by Joe O'Toole and John Dardis, that he should be the here. Is he the gamekeeper who became the poacher or the poacher turned gamekeeper? I am not sure. He participated as a Senator in the preparation of what was a reform report and put his name to it.

"For my part, I will resist to the last gasp of my existence and the last drop of my blood. And when I feel the hour of my disolution growing, I will, like the father of Hannibal, take my children to the altar and swear them to eternal hostility against the invaders of their country's freedom." I did not say this, rather it was said by William Plunkett, MP, against Lord Castlereagh and the Imperial British Government. On 22 January 1799 the Irish Parliament had its first opportunity to express an opinion on the British Government's proposal to unite Great Britain and Ireland under one Parliament in Westminster. The debate lasted for 21 uninterrupted hours, during which 80 MPs addressed the House. We have been given a paltry eight hours to do justice to the proposed abolition of the Seanad. The patriot orator, Henry Grattan, whose Parliament was called the Grattan Parliament, also spoke. I have some recollection of publishing a related stamp on behalf of the philatelic section of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in 1982. I launched it here but never thought I would be back in the House to talk about Henry Grattan who purchased a seat in the Irish House of Commons, which cost him £1,200. He had been a Member previously but had left Parliament. He rode overnight to Dublin and the House of Commons where the Bank of Ireland is located now. He spoke for two hours and was seated, as he was not well. He charged the Government with bribery and deceit and, waving his finger at Lord Castlereagh, stated:

The thing which he proposes to buy is what cannot be sold - liberty. He proposes to you to substitute the British Parliament in your place [...] Against such a body, were I expiring on the floor, I should beg to utter my last breath and record my dying testimony.

That is our great orator and patriot. The betrayal culminated in a poem which was soon taught in every Irish school.

How did they pass the union? By perjury and fraud;
By slaves who sold their land for gold,
As Judas sold his God.

It is not too dissimilar to the proposal before the House.

The Constitution was voted for in 1937. My parents voted for it and never expected that I would be here. They voted for it because it was right and they voted with the majority. It has served the people extraordinarily well during the years. They have held it against the Blueshirts and the fascists. It has been good to Ireland and should be held, honoured and preserved now. As far as I know, I am the longest serving Member of the Oireachtas in the House. The Taoiseach and I are the only Members of the Oireachtas who voted for a Taoiseach in 1977. I voted for Jack Lynch and the Taoiseach voted for Liam Cosgrave. Before I was elected to the Seanad in 2002, I had enormous respect for the House. As a Minister of State with responsibility for trade and marketing, I brought numerous Bills to the House and accepted from it many worthwhile amendments. I sat where the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, is sitting and received the greatest advice from Senators who included Mary Robinson and Pat Kennedy from Limerick who was an expert on law. We brought the Companies Act through the House. I will not go through the litany of Bills. I did not come to the House disrespectfully on my election. I fought elections in 1992, 1997 and, successfully, in 2002. I was elected to the Dáil in 1977 on the first occasion on which I stood. I record these matters as a context for my respect for the House. It is not that I am trying to preserve something for the future, rather it is something I believe.

The Taoiseach said we should abolish the Seanad because we had too many politicians. This is the only commitment he gave in the 2011 election which he hopes to honour. He promised in Roscommon town that he would retain its 24/7 accident and emergency service. He broke that promise and the accident and emergency unit is now closed. He said he would not legislate for abortion, but he is now legalising it. He said he would reduce the Dáil by 20 Members, but it is to be reduced by only eight. He has refused to put that proposal in a referendum on the same day as the proposal to abolish the Seanad to see if he would achieve it. Possibly, he would. The only promise he has honoured is his proposal to abolish Seanad Éireann and the case he makes is not sustainable. When one takes account of both local and national representation, Ireland has far fewer elected politicians per capita than other countries. The Taoiseach provided the example of Finland to back up his assertions. It has a similar population, at just over 5 million. Currently, it has five times more elected politicians than Ireland. If the Government succeeds in its proposal to abolish the Seanad, we will have one eighth of the number of politicians in Finland which is a very successful country.

The Government is being disingenuous when it argues to advance the cause of Seanad abolition that we have too many politicians. The Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, have acquiesced to an increase in the number of local authority seats in Dublin to protect Labour Party councillors from the wrath of the electorate next year. That is a fact and a very cynical exercise.