Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill tonight but I am disappointed that the debate is so rushed. The Bill will probably be guillotined. I have only been given five minutes to speak on it, during which time I am expected to represent the views of the constituents who spoke to me, both for and against abolition of the Seanad.

This Government promised reform, change and a different way of doing things but it is the most autocratic Government since the foundation of the State. It is guillotine after guillotine. It is bullying and intimidation. It is regressive legislation all of the time. Our Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, whom I wish him well in many aspects - I respect his position and I voted for him as Taoiseach - adopted this as his pet project. He did it out of despair because the last Taoiseach was so popular.

He told his beloved he would abolish the Seanad. If he succeeds it will be about the only promise he has ever made that he will have honoured. If all of the people in his own party and the Labour Party who I feel are saying they are against it are honest, they will oppose it and he will get nowhere.

When the previous Government was in power I saw the Taoiseach, Deputy Kenny, standing on this side of the House objecting to the guillotine and rushed legislation, some of which was dangerous legislation. The present Government took the mantle like a relay torch and ran with it. It also guillotines and rushes through legislation, including on banking and the promissory notes. It is a most undemocratic Government. Several minutes ago I saw the Chief Whip on the news on the television. He is in the United States getting a torch and bringing it back to Wexford. He has a torch here and is burning legislation and not respecting the Whips of our group or anybody else. They will not allow us as party leaders to have our say. People will have a choice and will say "No" to this.

Comments have been made about the former Minister, Michael McDowell. I certainly was not a fan of his but he went for election and was not afraid to face the people. When he was rejected he came back again. I suggested to the Technical Group I wanted to be a substitute at the Constitutional Convention, but I say to my colleagues Deputy O'Sullivan and Deputy Murphy that I have not once been invited to participate. They are great democrats when it suits them, but they want to keep everybody else down and bully their own ideas on others. I am too old-fashioned and they want modern legislation. This is democracy. They can speak about democracy all they like, but they do not mean it because it is not practised in my group. It is as simple as that and this is how it happens.

A reformed Seanad would be very beneficial but will we get it? We will not. This is Enda's ego trip, with all of his Ministers clapping him on the back. Some of them were Senators. I have never been in the Seanad and never canvassed for it. However, I want to see checks and balances on the legislation we introduce. The Taoiseach has broken all of his promises. He wants to keep this one but the public will decide. The Constitutional Convention is a bit of a charade. Why did the Taoiseach not leave the issue there? He is afraid somebody else might decide something else.

We need a reformed Seanad and should possibly allow our emigrants and diaspora to vote on it and have it democratically elected. We should have checks and balances and we should be allowed time. A company law reform Bill, on which I recently spoke, was 1,400 pages long. How could I, as an elected politician with limited resources, check it? It was in gestation for 20 years and they wanted us to pass it in a short number of days. We need proper accountability and proper respect for the people who vote us in here. If we asked tomorrow whether we should also get rid of the Dáil I am sure the people would do so, and I would not blame them because they have been sold down the river, particularly by this and previous Governments. We need accountability, honesty and openness. When people are picked for positions they should have a chance to participate and not be blocked out. This Government is the most autocratic of all time. Thankfully the people of Ireland elected a President who is ready, willing and able to speak on issues about us kowtowing to Europe, other discrepancies and the lack of democracy.

This cowardly Taoiseach will not allow a free vote on a serious constitutional issue. I will not call the other Bill before the House by its name, which mentions protecting mothers and nothing else. It is a Bill to introduce murder and slaughter into this country, yet the Taoiseach will not allow his own party people to have a free and conscientious vote. Where is the democrat? He is hiding and running but the people are waiting for him in the long grass and they will pay him back in good time. Democracy means nothing to him. He has no respect for it, but he should have because he has been here for much longer than I have, something on which I compliment him.

The Taoiseach will not allow a free vote in his own party. What is he afraid of? What is he hiding from? He wants to kowtow to the Labour Party on this issue when he has destroyed it on many other issues. When he finishes here he will probably go to Europe with the Minister, Deputy Hogan, and the other fellows. The country will not forget Fine Gael and the so-called democrats in my group who will not allow me attend the Constitutional Convention for one day.

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