Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I move:

That the Ceann Comhairle direct the Clerk of the Dáil to issue his writ for the election of a Member to fill the vacancy which has occurred in the membership of the present Dáil consequent on the death of Deputy Séamus Brennan, a Member for the constituency of Dublin South.

I wish to share time with Deputy Ó Snodaigh.

Seamus Brennan was one of the most respected and admired members of this House, who served with distinction in a wide range of portfolios at both senior and junior ministerial level. He was the subject of exceptionally warm and genuinely expressed tributes from all sides of the House following his death.

However, it is seven months since Mr. Brennan's death and it is long past the time the by-election should have been held. The normal procedure is that the party which held the seat where the vacancy has occurred gets the opportunity to move the writ. I had expected that Fianna Fáil would move the writ when the Dáil resumed after the summer recess. That would have allowed the by-election to be held towards the end of October. The Labour Party held off from moving the writ to give Fianna Fáil a reasonable opportunity to do so.

I have, on several occasions, raised the matter of the by-election on the Order of Business with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and, on some occasions, my inquiry has been treated as some sort of a joke. The standard response I have received on each occasion has been that the matter had not yet been considered by the Government. It is time it was considered by the Government. I read in the newspapers that it is the Government's intention to hold the by-election in conjunction with the local and European elections that will be held in early June. If the Government gets its way, it will mean the seat will have been left vacant for almost a year, which is not acceptable. There is no justification for leaving the seat vacant for such a long time.

In Britain by-elections are held within a matter of weeks of the vacancy occurring in the House of Commons. The practice in the early decades of Dáil Éireann was to hold by-elections within a few weeks. For example, in 1927 the then justice Minister, Kevin O'Higgins, was assassinated on 10 July but the consequent by-election was held on 24 August. Even in recent decades normal practice has been that a by-election is held within a few months of the vacancy occurring. Two vacancies occurred during the lifetime of the last Dáil and the by-elections were held within approximately three months. John Bruton and Charlie McCreevy both resigned as Deputies in November 2005, and the writs for the by-elections in Meath and Kildare North were moved in the Dáil by the Government Chief Whip on 15 February 2006.

During the 28th Dáil, which sat between 1997 and 2002, there were six vacancies. On no occasion was the by election deferred for as long as a year. In the case of Theresa Ahern, the by-election was held within eight months. The other vacancies in the lifetime of that Dáil were Michael Ferris, two months; Pat Upton, eight months; Hugh Coveney, six months; Ray Burke, four months; and Jim Kemmy, five months. The pattern is similar for the 27th Dáil. The by-election following the death of Brian Lenihan senior was held within four months. In the case of Neil Blayney it was also four months; Johnny Fox, three months; and Pat Cox, three months. When the Labour Deputy for Cork North-Central, Gerry O'Sullivan, died in October 1994, the by-election was held within a month. One must to go back to the early 1990s to find a by-election postponed for more than a year.

The people of Dublin South are entitled to the full level of representation in the Dáil provided for under the Constitution. The Constituency Commission has determined that the people of Dublin South should be represented by five Deputies. It is not acceptable that the Government should deny them that level of representation to which they are entitled by refusing to hold the by-election. Furthermore, if the Government believes it has the confidence of the people regarding its performance in office so far and particularly in regard to its handling of the economy, then surely it should put this to the test by holding the Dublin South by-election as early as possible.

I anticipate the argument from the Government along the lines that the last thing the country needs at this difficult economic times is a by-election. The fact that the country is experiencing serious economic difficulties is no reason to suspend normal democratic procedures. By-elections have been held previously during times of economic difficulty. Even during the period of the Emergency, while a number of by-elections were deferred, others went ahead. By postponing the by-election for such a long period, the Government is suggesting Deputies do not matter, elections do not matter and democracy does not matter. That is the wrong message to send out at this or any other time.

We all know the reason the Government parties are reluctant to have the by-election in Dublin South. They fear the judgment of the people on a Government that has led this country into an unprecedented economic crisis, that has presided over a record increase in the numbers out of work and that has danced to the tune of the bankers and developers. The prospect of a politically embarrassing result for Fianna Fáil and the Green Party is not sufficient justification for depriving the people of Dublin South of their full level of representation. I take with a grain of salt commitments that the Government parties want the by-election to be held on the same day as the local and European elections. I suspect they would like this by-election to be deferred indefinitely. I am sure that as June approaches other reasons will be put forward as to why it should be deferred further.

It should not be possible for a Government to use its majority in this House to prevent a by-election being held. It is time to consider an amendment to Standing Orders to provide that where a vacancy occurs in the membership of the House, a writ would automatically issue after a specified period, say three or four months, unless a motion is passed that the writ be issued at an earlier date. This is an important motion. The way each Deputy votes on it will be an indication of the extent to which he or she values and respects our political process and our democratic system.

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