Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to go back to my original question, which is for the Taoiseach to report on his comments that he did not think it would be possible to introduce the planned reform of Seanad Eireann before the next election. That is contrary to what he told me seven months ago when he promised that we would do this.

I was at a meeting last night in Ballymascanlon called by the local county branch of the Irish Farmers Association to deal with rural crime. I will not take us along that road although it is an issue worthy of debate. What struck me was the anger at the politicians who were in attendance. All the main parties were there but we had been instructed not to speak. Towards the end of the meeting that instruction was relaxed. The reason there is so much anger, not just about rural crime but a range of issues, is the high-flown rhetoric the Taoiseach employed when he talked about political reform and spoke of Paddy needs to know, a democratic revolution, never doing things the way they were done in the past, doing them differently and that honesty was going to be the policy.

Then we come to the issue of Seanad reform and, as we were reminded a moment ago, the referendum question put by the Government did not include the ability to vote for reform, which was our preference. The question was either retain it or get rid of it. One would think, given how the electorate responded to that, and given that this working group was set up that the Taoiseach would have responded speedily but he did not. He has had the report - I will not repeat what happened at the meeting that took place - for seven months and he has not brought it forward. That is why so many citizens are cynical about politics and angry about some politicians, on top of all the other policies the Government has employed. It is not enough to say the working group did not see this being brought in until after the next general election. That does not stop us from priming ourselves and getting the best legislation possible. Why did the Taoiseach not bring forward the report? Was that a real promise he made in May when he agreed to do so or was it just off the top of his head? Was he serious? Why do we not have this issue addressed, including the legislation and the debate that is required in order to fulfil the Taoiseach’s commitment to political reform and the democratic revolution?

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