Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is. I cannot remember which side the Senator was on in the referendum but I was in favour of abolition. A small country could get by just fine with one Chamber but I accept that the people have spoken on that, it is a settled issue now and the Seanad is here to stay. One of the views I had at the time was that I was sceptical as to whether we would get consensus on Seanad reform. Seanad reform is a bit like the Australian republic; most people want it but when it gets put to referendum it is hard to get a majority for the model put in front of them and I am not sure what that model is. A previous group tried to shoehorn a reformed Seanad into the existing constitutional provisions, which require the maintenance of the corporate 1930s panels and all sorts of various other things, and it was not a great proposal in the end.