Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being forthright in his explanation of how his views have not so much evolved but probably remained the exact same. I took from his contribution that this is not something he believes in good conscience. He said he was bound by the principles of compromise. If I am to understand this, Fine Gael got 20.8% of the first preference vote in the last general election. I do not see the Lowry group here to defend the Minister or his Fine Gael colleagues. If we are to believe that this House is in any way the result of the will of the people, does it not worry us that one in five of the elected Members of this House are determining a very significant change in our court system to remove juries? We are removing the majority of a jury and justifying that by the principle of compromise. In and of itself, that is outlandish. Do we not have within this Chamber the principle of conscience, which should come before the principle of compromise? Otherwise, what are we doing here?

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