Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

Other Members will have other views on that and no doubt we will debate this in further detail.

Former Cabinet Ministers should be entitled to attend and speak in the Seanad, although not as Members. People who have just left or are at the margins of politics have a wealth of experience. Such people should not be given a salary but a daily rate of payment, as is the practice in the House of Lords. The same type practice should exist here for former Cabinet Ministers of perhaps ten years' standing.