Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will now have an incredible number of ten-seaters, nine-seaters and so on. It is one of the great gerrymanders we have witnessed in local government. The Government can have that but the abolition of town councils is a retrograde step. Its connection to the Seanad is that it represents another removal of a tier of scrutiny and of public participation in politics and in community activities.

The elections to Údarás na Gaeltachta were done away with. The Government said to people living in the Gaeltacht area that they did not really need to have a say on who sits on Údarás na Gaeltachta. People are beginning to wonder about an authoritarian streak within the Government. If the Government succeeds in having the Seanad abolished, we will be left with an Executive which has dramatically increased the number of guillotines on very important legislation. It has absolute control over everything that happens in this House, including timetables and length of time issues are discussed, through our historic system of the Executive controlling the agenda of the House, and I acknowledge it did not start with this Government. That is the big issue down the line. How far do we go in abolishing democracy and the various tenets of democracy? Direct franchise to the Seanad is an option the Taoiseach could proceed with but he needs to be careful how he proceeds.

Will the Taoiseach circulate the memorandums and minutes?

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