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

It is incredible in a modern democracy that the Taoiseach put forward a proposal to fundamentally alter the Constitution and yet is not prepared to take part in one of the basic elements of democracy, which is to debate and argue the merits or demerits. The Taoiseach may give a glib smart reply today but that does not really answer the substantive point I am making to him, that is, the obligation on a leader of Government to come out openly into the public domain on the national airwaves and argue the merits or demerits of a particular proposal.

The second point is that, of course, the Seanad is reformable if one wants to reform it. What I asked the Taoiseach was, in the event of the Seanad proposal being defeated-----

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