Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I watch them and salute them. We have all engaged in it. I go to county council and town council offices, although possibly not as often as Deputies do. I do not get as much of that kind of work and do not want to interfere with councillors. A Deputy is continuously focused on his or her re-election. That is human nature. He or she has to watch the constituency. In fairness to Deputies, they do watch their constituencies and the people choose whom they want. It does not matter what a candidate drinks, drives or smokes. The people will make up their minds on him or her. We must salute them and we do so.

Dáil reform has been promised in the place of the abandoned Seanad. It is probably needed in the light of how people view that Chamber. I do not mean this as a slight on the Minister of State who is an exceptional person. The same can be said about an awful lot of Deputies, if not most of them. When the interaction and the play get going in the Dáil, they feed into people's perception of the Dáil as a hurdy-gurdy dysfunctional Punch and Judy show. I am not saying it does not happen here on an odd occasion. However, this is a more objective and less partisan Chamber. It is sad that many people have that impression of the Dáil. It has been said the people might abolish the Dáil also if they were given the choice. That is a reflection of the effects of the recession and the terrible times people are going through. From a cynical point of view, perhaps this is a good time to propose a referendum to get rid of this House. Perhaps that is the way it is. I just do not know. We will wait and see what happens in the debate.

Any Government with a large majority in a single Chamber will tend to do what it likes. That is human nature. The Executive can make things easier by giving itself more power. In this case, it would prefer not to have to bother with another Chamber and what its Members might think and do. As we know, there is a constitutional obligation on this House to process all legislation, just as the Dáil does. Many Ministers, past and present, have found this a more objective and less partisan Chamber which is more conducive to teasing out the core issues involved in every Bill. The current ones do not go on the record about it, but some of the former ones do. It may be the case that Senators have, or used to have, more time to devote to legislation. This House has been good at considering legislation and it still has a reputation for-----