Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)

There may be others from Cork. We were in the council together so I always admired this man's contribution. I hate to disagree with my Labour Party colleagues but, in my view, the Minister did not go far enough. One of the best examples is that great Cork man, Seán Moylan, from north Cork, a former IRA man, former Sinn Féin man, and, dare I say, a former Fianna Fáil man. He had very independent views about the size of this House because of the size of the nation and I agree with him entirely. I could count on one hand the number of times I have been in agreement with a Fianna Fáil man but Seán Moylan was right. He thought the Dáil had too many Members for a new nation and things could not be done. I regret it was not a Labour man or a Fine Gael man who said it but I agree with the Cork man. If the Minister were to reduce the numbers even further, I would have no qualms about that. I welcome the Bill.

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