Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I support that proposal. As I said earlier, there is something unreal about the fact that the Dáil will spend two days debating constituency boundaries, changes to which may never be made, in circumstances where the public is discussing the state of the economy, the health service and the day to day problems being experienced. If this House is to have any relevance, we need to discuss issues that are relevant to people's lives and to what is happening in the real world. If the Government is not in a position to bring forward legislative proposals that have meaning outside the walls of this building, it should make Government time available to the Opposition so that we can discuss the issues that affect the people.

See this speech in context