Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am opposed to the Bill. Senator Byrne explained his concerns very well in respect of it. Why has the position of Clerk of the Dáil remained vacant for over a year? I just cannot understand why that is the case. Now, we are changing the law. The Minister has explained why the latter is happening but he did not indicate why the position of Clerk of the Dáil, which was previously held by Mr. Kieran Coughlan for quite some time, has remained vacant. The atmosphere in the Seanad has become very healthy in recent times. This is a result of the fact that we are obliged to debate everything because the Government does not have an automatic majority. That has been a welcome development. Last week, Senator Crown tabled a very sensible amendment and won the ensuing vote in respect of it by a margin of one - 27 to 26. This makes the Seanad very sound and democratic. We debate every matter in the knowledge that the balance could go one way or the other.

In the period 1994 to 1997 one Government fell and was immediately replaced by another without an election. The previous Taoiseach's nominees remained Members of the Seanad and suddenly there was no longer a Government majority here. That was particularly helpful to the five Independent Members of the House - there had been six of us but one of our number became the Labour Party Whip - because we held the balance of power in many instances. This meant that Ministers were obliged to take account of our views. I recall on one occasion being approached by the then Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Mervyn Taylor, who sought to convince me that we needed to change something we had done the previous week. The debates which took place in the House at that they were both robust and good and this was due to the fact that the Government did not have an automatic majority.

What the current Government is doing in the form of the Bill before us is changing the law in order to regain its majority in the Seanad. That is a disgraceful affront to citizens who were promised more democracy when the Government lost the referendum on the abolition of the Seanad. What is being done here is hypocritical, particularly in view of the fact that the Taoiseach promised a "democratic revolution" in 2011. We have been waiting three years for real Seanad reform. It is extremely regrettable that the Government has resorted to this solution which is being rushed through the Oireachtas and about which, as Senator Byrne indicated, we only found out last week. I wish the Government would place as much emphasis on concrete reform of the Seanad. One of the simplest and most straightforward ways in which we might improve democracy in this country would be by making the Seanad more democratic and giving it increased powers in order that it might take a second look at legislation and provide the necessary counterweight to the Dáil.

The group Democracy Matters, of which I was a member, campaigned in last October's referendum on that basis. We did not campaign for the House to be retained in its current guise, rather our aim was to have it reformed. Our goal was to create a new, democratic Seanad in respect of which everybody would have a vote. Last year's referendum was, unfortunately, the first occasion on which many citizens had been in a position to cast any kind of vote in respect of the Seanad. How long will they be obliged to wait until they can do so again? The Government must extend the right to vote in respect of elections to his House. Senator Crown introduced a Bill on the matter, which was accepted, as have Senator Zappone and the Fianna Fáil Senators. All three Bills provide solutions that can work. We can and should have a democratic Seanad, without the whip automatically forcing everybody on the Government side to vote in a particular way on each occasion. One Government Senator indicated earlier that he has, on occasion, been obliged to vote against his own best judgment because he was instructed to do so and did not want to lose the whip.