Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin supports political reform and I have listened over the years to what the Taoiseach has said on this issue. I have said on the record that I agree with a great deal of what he says, including that reform should be citizen-centred, accountable and transparent and it should be based on equality and fairness. It is important to step back every so often to figure out how these institutions and how we work in the interests of the people who send us here and also to reflect on the gulf that has been created between citizens and the political classes.

The Taoiseach made a number of commitments. He committed to a citizen's assembly but there has been no consultation whatsoever. I do not even know how consultation will work. In the programme for Government he also called on citizens to be involved in this. There needs to be a debate about these institutions. Political reform cannot be reduced to whether we retain or abolish the Seanad. As a relative newcomer, I can see clearly how stultifying this place is and how a Government, particularly one with such a large majority, despite its best intentions, could just go ahead and ignore what is being said by the Opposition. When will there be a process of consultation? What form will it take? Can citizens, Opposition Members and even Government backbenchers have some ownership of that process?

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