Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

It is all of 160 years ago since the heroic Chartist Movement led to the abolition of rotten boroughs in Britain and Ireland but today Members of this Parliament, in voting for the Second House of Parliament, have no less than five votes each and some have an extra vote because they happened to go to a university. While our neighbours who pay their taxes, work hard and are good citizens have no vote, why are we going through this charade of the Seanad and how long will it last? When will the legislation for the abolition of the Seanad be brought forward, for which some of us have been calling for the past 20 years?

Talking about throwbacks, the HSE action in savagely cutting the wages of nurses forced to work with an agency is a real throwback to days of dictatorial employer methods. Will the Tánaiste ask the Minister for Health and Children to intervene to stop this disgraceful attack on nurses, many of whom are young nurses who cannot get a position in a permanent capacity and are subjected to this kind of abuse?

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