Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The idea is that because people voted for Deputy O'Donovan, there must be something wrong with him. I find that personally insulting and I am sure the people who voted for me find it insulting as well, as my party and I have a mandate. With the Labour Party we have a bigger mandate than the other parties in here, and it is to govern. We are putting this electoral promise made by us to the people.

The Deputy also questioned local government reform. I do not know where the soundbites in her speech came from but Sinn Féin has also opposed local government reform. Nevertheless, when the party crosses the Border, its members seem to inhale some sort of toxin that changes their minds, as they are in favour of local government reform in the North, along with the abolition of certain councils, PSNI stations and small schools. They are also in favour of local taxes and water charges in the North, despite their opposition to such issues down here.

It irks me that the initial attack launched on the Government this evening referenced the church and the provisions of the 1937 Constitution but it failed utterly to make any reference to the fact that Sinn Féin is a recent convert to this process anyway. The party spent most of its political past, certainly until my lifetime, trying to subvert not just certain aspects of the Irish Constitution but the Constitution in its entirety. It has used every mechanism in its arsenal to ensure the provisions of the 1937 Constitution would be subverted and, in some cases, attacked in a military fashion.

The 1937 Constitution has served us well and its authors - Fianna Fáil was in Government at the time - should be commended. Europe was in a troubled position at the time and the Constitution has, by and large, served the country well. It is insulting, to put it mildly, to impugn this Chamber, which is directly elected by proportional representation with a single transferable vote. I know Fianna Fáil tried on two separate occasions to use its popularity to introduce a straight vote in the hope of achieving a British-type scenario of massive majorities but the people rejected those. It is insulting to every person in here to suggest that we are somehow not democratically elected and the next time the good Deputy has the opportunity to stand on her feet, she might apologise to those of us whom she openly insulted because we represent different ideologies.

The Deputy referred to us as being aloof and pampered but there is only one group of people I know who are as aloof and pampered as the Deputy described, and they are the abstentionist Members of Her Majesty's Parliament at Westminster. They have no problem taking the Queen's shilling in expenses but they will not take their seats to represent the people who elected them in Northern Ireland.

This issue is about giving people the opportunity to have their say on a commitment given both in the programme for Government and the manifestoes of both parties. There will be a vigorous debate, which I welcome, and there is an opportunity for everybody to have their say on what happens in the Seanad and what could have happened if there had been a reform as outlined in one of the many reports commissioned but which never got anywhere other than on a shelf to gather dust. It may be a pity but the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is correct in that this goal is not unique to Ireland, and the process has been done before. Other countries have gone this way and the Minister referred to New Zealand: I have never heard of it being referred to as an axis of anti-democracy. The Government is giving the people an opportunity to have their say and I am sure even Sinn Féin would agree that democracy and referenda are not something to be afraid of. This is an opportunity for people to have a debate and for the Government to advocate a platform of political reform at national, local and the regional level, which is often overlooked. It is badly needed.

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