Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We are open and diverse. We listen to the people. The amendment speaks to a more fundamental problem, to which others have alluded. I am in favour of the abolition of the Seanad because it is undemocratic and it needs to go. There is a serious danger that the Government will be defeated on this, however. People are worried that the parts of our democracy that will remain after the Seanad is abolished will not deliver what they want. I think the Government is shoring up trouble for itself. It would be ironic if those who would like the Seanad to be abolished in order to facilitate a greater level of democracy end up voting against its abolition because they do not trust the rest of the system to deliver real democracy for people. While I support the abolition of the Seanad, the manner in which the Government is providing for it is a big problem, as is the imposition of a guillotine on what should be a much more detailed discussion about the alternatives. The Government promised a debate on how we can enhance democracy. That should have been part of the package. Regardless of what one thinks about the Seanad, it is a worrying harbinger of the Government's attitude to this issue and this debate that it has sought to impose a guillotine on this substantial change to the way politics is done in this country and to the Constitution. I support the amendment, but I think the Government's attitude is causing it to career towards a bit of a disaster on this issue. It should give serious consideration to that.

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