Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

They have been in operation since the election of 1947, which is more years than I care to remember. The arrangements have applied for over 50 years and they strike a better balance than the alternatives that preceded them.

I must make a point to Deputy Morgan and, in fact, I cannot avoid doing so. His espousal of the system that obtained in this country in 1922 overlooks the minor fact that it was our former imperial masters who dictated the arrangements that we inherited at that time. Whatever else motivated our former imperial masters——

See this speech in context