Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

None was expected. The Taoiseach continues his solo run. He might not get this shot over the bar when he decides to take it. He will have no one to blame but himself because it will not be the fault of the Ministers, Deputies Shatter, Reilly or Hogan, rather it will be the Taoiseach's fault. He is on his own on this issue, make no mistake about it. The only way in which he might survive in his mind and that of his Government is by putting before the people a proposal to abolish or live with the Seanad.

He and the Government do not have the guts to put a proper referendum before the people asking them whether they want to use or lose the Seanad, which would put reform at the heart of this and the other House and would have the actions to back up the rhetoric which was flowing profusely from the Taoiseach and his colleagues during the previous general election campaign. It would be an injustice to the people to allow the referendum in its current form to go before them.

It is a waste of time, effort and money to ask people to abolish or live with the Seanad as it is currently formed. What sense or reason is in that proposal? As I said, we were well able to support many recommendations on reform as instigated by many of the Taoiseach's colleagues over the past 30 years.

The Government, however, has not referred to any of the alternative proposals or made any attempt to put a meaningful referendum before the people.

During Leaders' Questions this morning we had to listen to the Tánaiste churn out every statistic and figure relating to the provision of supports for special education needs. What he failed to mention, however, is the impact of the latest proposal on the children throughout the country who are in need of such assistance. We acknowledge that money has been ring-fenced for this purpose and that a cap, which has been retained by this Administration, was initially put in place by the previous Government. It is safe to safe to say, however, that my party would take cognisance of the increase in the number of children requiring the service and would move heaven and earth to facilitate them. The Tánaiste essentially went on a ramble this morning in his effort to defend the indefensible. To be fair to the Minister for Education and Skills, he has admitted the numerous mistakes he made since coming to office. I have no doubt that he will acknowledge that the latest proposal is also a mistake and that it will, in due course, be rescinded.

The Taoiseach fixed on his proposal to abolish the Seanad on a whim. This publicity stunt and power grab will come back to haunt him by virtue of what is happening parallel to this debate. For all his talk of efforts to repair the economy in the context of G8 summits, EU summits and so on, the reality is that our society is not making much progress.

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