Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There were occasions in the past where people were rewarded with appointment to the Seanad on the basis of services they had previously rendered.

What we want to do in this House with the revamped committee system is to engage with civic society and the sectors of civic society which were left out of the analysis, preparation, consideration and implementation of the laws of our land. Nothing can be more democratic or fair than that. That is another reason we can manage our affairs much more effectively, much more transparently and in a much more accountable fashion without having a second House which does not have constitutional responsibility to hold the Government to account. That is what the people demand.

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