Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

We could definitely do things better in this country. While we can criticise what the Government is trying to do in this area, we should realise nobody has ever tried to do anything before. I congratulate the Government on its efforts. I hope something emerges from the convention. I will die of scepticism if nothing does. It is very rare that anything emerges from a report in Ireland other than a bigger carbon footprint and many frustrated people.

Despite Ireland's geographic size, population, weather conditions and plentiful supply of water, it has great potential. Over the past century, we have been generally well-educated, but somehow it all seems to get messed up. This may not be as attributable to the people we elect as much as I once believed; perhaps it is attributable to how we go about our business. I am not a politician hater and believe there are too many such people - they are dangerous. It is great that politicians will be involved in the convention if only because they, for their sins, have great insight into how sick the system is. That is not to say the people in the system are sick. The system is like a bad car which, despite one's putting in good petrol and oil, will not move. This is a major problem. I said on my first day here that 19 out of 20 in my family and that of my wife had to leave this fertile country. It always has potential but it never fulfils it. If the convention can go some way towards fulfilling this potential, I will cheer for it.

In fewer than three minutes, Deputy Brendan Griffin got to the nub of the problem. For this, I give him credit. There would probably be too many Members if we were to do only the job we were meant to be doing, which is crossing the t's and dotting the i's of legislation. Deputy Griffin referred to freeing up Members to legislate and having a better system at county council level. In my county, there are too many county councillors. We could get rid of some of them where there are smaller populations but set in train a system in which those who want to make change and care about doing so will not get sick of the system owing to their not being able to make the changes they desire. One needs a system that listens to the elected people. Those who are elected comprise the boss because they have been elected by the people. I hope that, in the convention process, somebody will speak so strongly about the way local government works that there will actually be change. When I became a county councillor I was full of energy, but I am no longer full of energy having gone through the system. The system took no account of who was elected but took account of an unelected county manager. That system ought to be changed.

Consider the talk about getting rid of town councils. If it is a matter of cost, one should realise people are willing to do the job for nothing. There should be a local town council system instead of the current system in which locals who set up a committee to apply for a few quid from one of the agencies, which are soaking it up through handing out funding, get sick of doing so after nine or ten years. Instead of operating under the current system, such people could be running for election to local town councils and making real decisions about how money is spent locally. They would never make stupid decisions such as pulling up a footpath that was built the preceding year. The money would be spent properly. This philosophy needs to filter up from town council level to county council level, or even regional level. There is an argument for governance at regional level. The current system is a complete disaster. The people who are now in government tried for so long to get there - I probably cheered them when they started many years ago - that they will not listen to anyone else because getting in was so difficult and no one listened to them when they were in opposition. That they might believe this is scary. A Fine Gael Deputy expressed the opinion to me that, although reform of local government was all very well, it would not leave Deputies with much power. It is not about Deputies - it is about running the country the right way.

If people who have become sick and tired of a system in which they telephone local councils, there is no accountability and nothing that is necessary gets done because it is all a mess found their way onto the convention, it would be one hell of an achievement. However, the process will not work if people do not listen to its members simply because, having waited so long for their own say, they are afraid they will lose it again. I can understand the temptation. I might be the same. Who knows? I will probably never get to find out. We need to change how we run this country. We have great potential.

Regarding women's rights, I grew up in a house in which letters to my mother were addressed "Mrs. Luke Flanagan", although not by my father's choice. I am delighted that those days are gone. The further away they go, the better. One of the best suggestions for solving the problem of not enough female participation came from the Opposition and will also make men more equal, that is, paternity leave. I want to participate in my children's lives as much as my wife does. Under the law, however, I am not treated equally. Saying this is not fashionable or popular, as it suggests that one wants to remove some rights from women. Everyone's rights are diminished when one removes men's or women's rights. If the constitutional convention can equalise the situation, wonderful. I do not know whether 60 people will be enough, but perhaps it will. What is representative and what number does one pick?

I could pick many holes in this motion, but it is the best attempt that I have seen yet.

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