John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

While the Seanad is not directly elected, I wish to facilitate the Deputy. I did not read the article to which she referred and will take it on trust that it says something along the lines of her comments. The Deputy and I discussed this issue recently and as for the issue she raised regarding the third level panel, I agree there was a certain consensus on that issue and I wish to implement that change.

To revert to Deputy Ciarán Lynch's query, I believe one can get through legislation quicker if one tries to develop a consensus before one enters the Chamber. I hope that Members could short-circuit many issues by meeting to talk through them, to ascertain where a level of agreement exists on those issues and where they wished to go with it. Earlier today, the Deputy mentioned the idea of adversarial politics. Sometimes it is necessary and sometimes it is a hindrance. In this case, I believe it would be a total hindrance because after all, this is something to which the Labour Party aspires. We want to get it right as best we can. Therefore, I repeat that my door is open and I genuinely wish to meet people to discuss these issues and tease them out. While one hears about the summer break, etc., I will be around here for a long time during the summer-----

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